China's state-owned chemical corporation (ChemChina) said Tuesday that it had extended its $43 billion offer for Swiss seed giant Syngenta until January 5, after EU regulators announced they would probe the deal.

The massive takeover would be the biggest in a recent spate of Chinese overseas acquisitions and has drawn considerable attention from global regulators.

The ChemChina-Syngenta pact has been cleared by the United States and Japan, but on Friday the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the 40-billion-euro deal.

"Extensions to the tender offers are expected to occur until all conditions to the offers are satisfied, including obtaining all applicable regulatory approvals," ChemChina said in a statement.

The terms of the deal "remain unchanged", it added.

The January 5 extension looked set to be another stop-gap as Brussels has said its probe will run until mid-March.

Syngenta is a global leader in seeds and crop protection.

ChemChina describes itself as China's largest chemical company. It also controls Adama, the largest supplier of generic crop protection products in Europe.

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