Insider reports Chemchina/Syngenta, Dow/Dupont near EU clearance

ChemChina's planned $43 billion purchase of Swiss firm Syngenta and the combination of Dow Chemical (DOW) and Dupont (DD) are nearing European antitrust clearance, the Financial Times reports last Friday, citing inside knowledge from an unnamed participant in the Dow-DuPont talks.

It's believed that approval for that deal would clear the way for ChemChina and Syngenta.

These are the first two of three politically charged mega mergers worth nearly $250 billion in the global food industry. Dow-DuPont's $140 billion merger is reportedly on track for approval in March after the companies offered to sell some research and development capability, according to people involved in the process, the FT said.

The third big deal is Bayer's $66 billion purchase of Monsanto (MON), which was announced last September and will start its European approval process before the summer.