Beijing—Although both companies continue to deny it, state-owned Sinochem Group and China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) are reportedly planning to merge as part of the Chinese government’s push for consolidation of state-owned enterprises. According to Bloomberg, the mega-merger would create an oil-to-chemicals giant with the capability to refine about 1 million barrels of crude a day, making it a rival of larger Chinese refining companies like China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and PetroChina Co. If the merger plans are true, analysts were uncertain how the consolidation would affect ChemChina’s $43 billion acquisition of Syngenta AG, which was announced earlier this year (GM Feb. 5, p. 18) and would be the largest-ever acquisition by a Chinese company. Sinochem is China’s largest provider of fertilizer, seeds, and agrichemicals, and is also the fourth-largest state-owned oil company with control of more than 300 subsidiaries both within and outside of China. The company saw annual revenues of $57 billion in 2015, but posted a loss for the year. ChemChina is the largest chemical corporation in China, with 140,000 employees and production, R&D, and marketing systems in 150 countries. ChemChina claimed assets of $55 billion and annual sales of $41.2 billion in 2015, but also ended up in the loss column for the year. If merged, the two companies would have combined assets of about $110 billion.