China’s Little-Known Big Dealmaker

Ren Jianxin doesn’t have the name recognition of Chinese billionaires such as Jack Ma of Alibaba Group or Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda Group. But the chairman of state-owned China National Chemical (ChemChina) has just engineered an $46 billion international acquisition, China’s biggest to date.

Ren has offered to buy Syngenta, a Swiss pesticide and seed company whose board has recommended the deal, expected to close by yearend. The acquisition of Syngenta caps months of off-and-on negotiations that included Ren being rebuffed after offering 449 Swiss francs ($446) a share, valuing the company at $42 billion. His final offer is equivalent to 480 francs a share—in cash. The deal still has to be cleared by regulators in the U.S. and Europe.