Nufarm Ltd. said Sumitomo Chemical Co. has agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in the company after Australia's largest farm chemicals supplier rejected a 2.6 billion Australian dollar (¥212 billion) takeover offer from China's Sinochem Corp.
Sumitomo Chemical will acquire the stake at A$14 a share, Melbourne-based Nufarm said Tuesday. That values the holding at about A$611 million and is priced 17 percent higher than Sinochem's revised proposal for the whole company.
Sumitomo Chemical, the world's ninth-biggest maker of agricultural chemicals, wants to expand sales in the industry and benefit from Nufarm's sales network in Australia, Europe and the Americas. Sinochem's revised bid was rejected by Nufarm after three months of talks, saying it undervalued the company.