Syngenta plans to file for up to $10 billion Hong Kong IPO in second quarter, sources say

By John Revill, Kane Wu and Oliver Hirt

ZURICH/HONG KONG, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Syngenta Group plans to file the application for an up to $10 billion stock market listing in Hong Kong in the second quarter of this year and has hired banks to manage the initial public offering, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Basel-based company, controlled by Chinese state-owned Sinochem, aims to launch the public offering in the fourth quarter, subject to market conditions, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.

Reuters reported this month that Syngenta could sell up to 20% of its shares in the IPO, potentially one of the world's biggest this year, but that the size and timing of the offering was not final and could change depending on market conditions.

Syngenta declined to comment on a possible timeline for the prospectus filing or when the IPO itself would take place.

"We will continue to assess our capital markets strategies based on market conditions and other relevant factors that are in the best interests of our shareholders," a company spokesman said.

"As we always said, we intend to return to the capital market when the time is right."

Syngenta has picked Chinese investment bank CICC 601995.SS and Goldman Sachs GS.N to lead the IPO, said one of the two sources and a third person close to the matter, adding that Bank of America BAC.N, CITIC Securities 600030.SS and UBS UBSG.S have also been hired to work on the IPO.

Bank of America and UBS declined to comment. CICC, Goldman and CITIC Securities did not respond to requests for comment.