Plans are already being hatched potentially to bring farm sprays giant Makhteshim-Agan Industries back to the stock exchange – even before its Chinese bidder, ChemChina, has taken it private in a $2.4bn deal.

ChemChina's longstanding plans to buy MA Industries, the world's top maker of off-patent agrichemicals, took another step towards fruition with the signing of a deal with the Israeli group's top shareholder, Koor Industries.

The deal - which is as yet conditional on factors including approval by Chinese authorities - proposes ChemChina taking a 60% MA Industries stake, comprising all publicly-held stock and $168m of shares from Koor, which will retain a 40% holding.

However, the smallprint includes a measure which could see the group returned to the stockmarket within three years.

A shareholder agreement between ChemChina and Koor "sets out provisions in respect of…an undertaking to work towards a public offering of [MA Industries] shares".

Ownership curbs

Nailing down limitations on Koor's rights to dispose of the rest of its MA Industries shares, and ChemChina's ability to sell control, have absorbed a large chunk of the two groups' negotiation, which were first revealed in October.

The agreed strictures include an undertaking that control of Koor will for three years remain within its own current leading shareholders, who include Nochi Dankner, the Israeli billionaire.

A breach of this clause would cut Koor's rights to decide on MA Industries management.

ChemChina has committed to arranging, through a Chinese bank, a $960m loan to Koor, to be repaid in cash or MA Industries shares.

Deal doubts

News of the deal sent shares in MA Industries 1.3% higher to 18.28 shekels in Tel Aviv, closing the discount to the value of the deal, worth 19.93 shekels at current exchange rates.

The stock has tended remained at a relatively steep discount in part over doubts over the deal – ChemChina walked away from a takeover of Australia's Nufarm three years ago – and in part over the length of the time it is likely to take to complete the takeover, assuming official consents are received.

The groups expect that approval from Chinese authorities "will take several months".

'Business opportunities'

The bid is the latest in a series by Chinese suitors for companies linked to raw materials, of which the country has a huge appetite. It is the biggest importer, for instance, of cotton and soybeans, as well as many metals.

In New Zealand, Chinese seed group Agria Corporation is attempting to buy farm supplies group PGG Wrightson, while Hong Kong-listed Natural Dairy is battling to buy a block of dairy farms.

At ChemChina, president Jianxin Ren said that he and Mr Dankner believed that, together, they could develop "business opportunities" in "Israel, China, and elsewhere in the globe".

The deal follows a difficult period for MA Industries, which has faced stiff competition, largely from Chinese rivals, in the key market for widely-used glyphosate weedkillers.

In a further setback, MA Industries' plans to buy US rival Albaugh for $1bn collapsed in September, with both companies blaming each other for the failure of the deal.