Israel’s Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd. (MA Industries) ended talks to acquire Ankeny-based Albaugh Inc. for about $1 billion, blaming findings during due diligence, Reuters reported this morning.

MA Industries said it halted negotiations “due to various findings revealed to the company during due diligence which were a substantial deviation from the data upon which the company had based its decision to sign a letter of intent.”

In addition to his namesake company dealing in herbicides and pesticides, Iowa native Dennis Albaugh owns D.R.A. Properties LC, which is developing Prairie Trail, a 1,000-acre community in Ankeny that will contain a mix of homes, office space, commercial retail and entertainment.

MA Industries in June said it planned to buy the agricultural chemicals company founded in 1979 by Albaugh, to boost its presence in the Americas and cement its position as the world’s biggest maker of generic crop protection chemicals. MA Industries had signed a letter of intent to pay $340 million in cash, $455 million in seven-year promissory notes and 59 million of its own shares — the latter being equivalent to a 12 percent stake in MA worth $211 million.

“We have taken the right decision given the material gaps which emerged during the due diligence process,” Erez Vigodman, MA Industries president and CEO, said in a statement. “We will continue to take all the necessary actions to grow MA profitably over the coming years, while improving our cost structure and taking advantage of opportunities in our markets,” he said.

 UBS analyst Roni Biron said it was possible a deal could still be made at a lower price. If not, MA Industries would likely seek other acquisition targets, although Biron noted the number of targets in the crop protection sector is limited, while a “strategic detour” to non-core areas might prove risky.