UPDATE 1-K+S rejects Potash Corp’s new attempt at takeover talks – by Patricia Weiss (Reuters U.S. – July 21, 2015)

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FRANKFURT, July 21 (Reuters) – Salt and fertilizer group K+S has rejected a new attempt by Canada’s Potash Corp to entice the German company into takeover talks, a K+S spokesman said on Tuesday.

K+S earlier this month rebuffed Potash Corp’s 7.9 billion euros ($8.65 billion) proposed bid of 41 euros per share as too low and suggested the suitor was planning to shrink the company.

A K+S spokesman said Potash Corp Chief Executive Jochen Tilk had met the state premier of the German regional state of Hesse – where K+S is headquartered – and had handed over documents about Potash Corp’s plans to preserve jobs after a takeover. K+S was also given the documents.

“We’ve looked into these statements and concluded that they contain nothing substantial beyond what we had already been given in writing. That’s why we still see no basis for talks,” the spokesman said.

A Hesse government spokesman confirmed the meeting had taken place at the request of Potash Corp but declined to comment further. State premier Volker Bouffier has said he would fight to preserve K+S’s German sites.

A Germany-based spokesman for Potash Corp said the company had in the meetings laid out the advantages of a tie-up for K+S and Potash, while trying to allay the state of Hesse’s concerns.

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