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Potash/Phosphate

UPDATE 3-Potash Corp, K+S not actively discussing takeover -Potash CEO – by Rod Nickel (Reuters U.S. – September 16, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Potash Corp of Saskatchewan is not actively discussing its takeover proposal with Germany’s K+S, but remains interested in a combination of fertilizer producers that would aid North American potash sales and offer new access to Europe, Chief Executive Jochen Tilk said on Wednesday.

Potash Corp’s standing offer of 7.9 billion euros ($8.90 billion) or 41 euros per share is appealing to K+S shareholders, Tilk said at an investors’ conference in New York organized by Credit Suisse.

“It was attractive when we made it (in July). Marketing conditions have changed, we think it’s even more attractive now,” he said. “I will not put words in K+S shareholders’ mouths but I think most of them feel that is an appropriate offer in terms of premium.”

A K+S spokesman declined to comment. Shares of K+S dipped after Tilk’s comments and closed down 0.2 percent at 33.58 euros in Frankfurt. Potash shares were up 1.8 percent at $25.44 in New York and up 1.3 percent at C$33.51 in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.

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K+S says it’s open to Potash Corp. takeover, despite its rejection of U$8.6-billion bid – by Peter Koven (National Post – August 14, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The chief financial officer of K+S AG said his firm is not opposed in principle to a merger with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., despite its total rejection of the US$8.6-billion takeover proposal.

“Don’t get me wrong: We aren’t at all blocking a potential transaction,” chief financial officer Burkhard Lohr said on an earnings conference call on Thursday.

Potash Corp. is offering 41 euros a share, and K+S says that this is far too low. But the German firm also claims a takeover could be bad for its home country, as Potash Corp. could shutter domestic production.

If German politicians end up supporting that argument, Potash Corp.’s proposal may get effectively blocked. While there is no known mechanism for the government to block the bid, it would be difficult to do such a big transaction without at least some political support.

K+S argues that it is only logical for Potash Corp. to close its European mines. The potash market is oversupplied, and Potash Corp.’s Saskatchewan output is lower-cost than what K+S has in Europe.

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K+S says will look at higher Potash bid, profit jumps – by Andreas Cremer (Reuters Canada – August 13, 2015)

http://ca.reuters.com/

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s K+S AG SDFGn.DE said it would consider any improved offer from Canada’s Potash Corp of Saskatchewan POT.TO after its position was boosted by stronger than expected quarterly earnings.

The company affirmed its rejection of a 7.9 billion euro ($8.8 billion) takeover proposal by Potash, but left the door open on Thursday to an improved bid.

“K+S will deliver strong results as a stand-alone company,” finance chief Burkhard Lohr said during an earnings call. “K+S has a great future as an independent company.”

The Canadian firm’s takeover proposal of 41 euros per share does not even remotely reflect K+S’s underlying value, the CFO said, questioning again reassurances the Canadian firm has given on jobs and sites.

K+S’s management and supervisory boards “are extremely concerned that Potash appears to have no sustained interest in continuing the strategically, technically and financially linked fertilizer and salt activities in the current form,” it said.

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UPDATE 1-K+S says private shareholders back rejection of Potash offer (Reuters U.S. – August 10, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

FRANKFURT, Aug 10 (Reuters) – German salt and fertilizer company K+S AG has claimed support from private or retail investors for its rejection of a 7.9 billion euros ($8.6 billion) offer from Potash Corp of Saskatchewan.

K+S said on Monday it had surveyed private or non-institutional shareholders, who hold about 30 percent of its shares, and said more than 84 percent who replied were in favour of rejection, though it also said only about 28 percent had responded to its questionnaire.

Potash Corp has been pushing to talk with K+S management despite the German company’s initial rejection last month of the Canadian company’s bid worth 41 euros per share.

K+S, whose shares traded up 0.8 percent at 37.43 euros by 1130 GMT, lacks the protection of a big anchor investor, with nearly all its shares freely traded on the stock exchange, and the results of K+S’s survey provide the first real indication of how investors may respond to Potash Corp’s approach.

Only about 4 percent of the more than 39,000 private shareholders who participated in the survey said they would accept a 41 euros per share offer, K+S said.

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People around Earl Grey, Sask., discuss proposed potash mine (CBC News Saskatchewan – July 23, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/

Public meeting held in Earl Grey

People from around Earl Grey, Sask., took part in a public meeting Thursday to discuss a proposed Chinese-owned potash mine in the area.

Yancoal Canada, which operates coal mines in China and Australia, is proposing a potash mine with an annual output of 2.8 million tonnes near the communities of Earl Grey, Southey and Strasbourg.

Prior to the meeting, local resident Cathi Beckel said she has concerns about the project, noting there are too many risks — including water security issues and a boom and bust job situation — with too few benefits.

“I’m concerned about our environment. I’m concerned about our farmers. I’m concerned about our communities,” Beckel said. “These big industries come in and they really change communities.”

Representatives from Yancoal, and provincial officials from the ministries of the economy and the environment were at the meeting to make presentations on the proposal. There was also a question and answer session.

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

http://www.reuters.com/

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.

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[Florida Mosaic mining] From Phosphate Mine to Golf Resort: Streamsong – by Robin Sussingham (WUSF News – July 15, 2015)

http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/

In remote central Florida, land turned inside out by phosphate mining has been transformed yet again — this time as an upscale golf resort that’s getting a lot of attention in the golfing world. The thousands of acres of Mosaic land that makes up Streamsong may be depleted of phosphate — but it’s rich in something invaluable in the golf business. Sand.

It may seem like a surprisingly remote location for the Streamsong clubhouse and 216-room Lodge, complete with fine dining, infinity pool, spa and a modern, minimalist award-winning design of stone, wood and glass created by Tampa architect Alberto Alfonso. But Mosaic’s developers are betting that golfers will travel for a course that intrigues them.

Doug Smith is one of those golfers. He flew down from Tifton, Georgia, with a friend from Atlanta, and says the course is unlike anything else in Florida. “And, he says, it creates an opportunity for a good friend and I to come down, spend a couple of days, and kind of disappear.”

There are a lot of golf courses in Florida, But Scott Wilson, Streamsong’s Golf Director, says the fast and firm conditions here set it apart, as does the landscape.

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Employee concerns main hurdle in Potash Corp. takeover of K+S – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – July 13, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

In Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.’s quest to buy K+S AG, one of its biggest hurdles may lie in the German company’s corporate structure.

K+S has two boards of directors, one comprised of executives and another of employee representatives and shareholders.

The employee-shareholder group, known as the supervisory board, has enormous influence over the company with the power to hire and fire executives.

Unlike most takeovers, where a high enough bid will succeed, the buyer must also deal with the supervisory board, which takes into account the employees.

“The representative of the employees represent different interests,” said Martin Imhof, a partner at law firm Heuking Kuhn Luer Wojtek, who specializes in cross-border mergers and acquisitions in Germany.

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K+S investors see Potash Corp deal within reach despite rebu – by Andreas Kröner and Ludwig Burger (Reuters Canada – July 9, 2015)

http://ca.reuters.com/

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Shareholders in takeover target K+S say a deal could be done because suitor Potash Corp’s main aim is to get control over its German rival’s ambitious Canadian project and scale it back.

K+S’s “Legacy” mine in the prairies in western Canada would be the first built from scratch in the global potash industry in almost 40 years. It would add to an already oversupplied market where demand is suffering from weak emerging market currencies and low crop prices.

Potash Corp could more easily ration global supply by controlling K+S, but still commit to leaving its German operations largely intact. The potential threat to K+S’s domestic operations were seen as one reason why German regulators might block a deal.

K+S last week rebuffed Potash Corp’s 7.9 billion euro ($8.6 billion) proposed bid of 41 euros per share as too low and suggested the suitor was planning to shrink the company.

Potash is in demand as a mineral because it plays a vital role in plant growth and crop resistance to cold and drought.

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Potash Corp. confident of K+S bid, could raise if more value seen – by Pachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – July 8, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is confident K+S AG shareholders would accept its $8.7-billion (U.S.) bid, but is open to raising the offer if its German rival could reveal more value not currently seen by the Canadian company, according to a source close to the deal.

K+S has rejected Potash Corp.’s offer of €41 ($45 U.S.) a share, saying it is too low and grossly undervalues its Legacy potash project in Saskatchewan. K+S has said it believes Legacy alone is worth €21 a share, which has led some analysts to speculate that K+S is looking for an offer of about €50 a share.

The source characterized that amount as inconceivable and said there was no chance that such an offer would materialize given the average takeover premium in Germany is 32 per cent and Potash Corp. is offering a 57-per-cent premium to K+S’s share price over the past year.

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[U.K. potash mine] Sirius reaps the benefits of charming the locals – by Kate Burgess (Financial Times – July 5, 2015)

http://www.ft.com/home/us

Miner won planning permission to extract 13m tonnes a year of potash from the North York Moors

The comic potential in mineral fertiliser was exploited to the full by satirist Sacha Baron Cohen when his creation, Borat the Kazhak, boasted “other countries have inferior potassium” in a spoof national anthem. But his claim is one that Britons might legitimately dispute now as Aim-quoted Sirius Minerals prepares to mine a Yorkshire deposit of potassium-rich salts described as the richest in the world.

Last week, Sirius Minerals won planning permission to extract 13m tonnes a year of white pellets of so-called polyhalite from under the North York Moors national park. The planning victory was no mean feat. Last month, just across the Pennines, Lancashire locals saw off a bid by shale gas explorer Cuadrilla to begin fracking in the area, because they were worried about the effects on local homes and health.

In contrast, Yorkshire’s local residents cheered Chris Fraser, Sirius’ forceful founder and chief executive, as he left the council meeting at Sneaton Castle in Whitby, pictured. The talk in the Venerable Bede hall was all about Sirius creating a thousand jobs and pumping millions into the local economy for the next century.

It was the culmination of a canny three-year campaign by Mr Fraser to woo the region’s farmers and landowners.

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German minister backs K+S’s Potash bid rejection (Reuters U.S. – July 4, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

FRANKFURT – A German regional minister gave his backing to potash miner K+S’s rejection of an $8.8 billion-euro takeover bid by Canada’s Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, saying K+S should remain a German company.

Tarek Al-Wazir, minister of economy in K+S’s home state of Hesse, said on Saturday he would support K+S’s efforts to make sure regional jobs and value creation were not lost.

K+S has rejected a proposed bid by Potash of 41 euros per share, saying it was too low and warning its suitor could be planning to dismantle or shrink the salt and fertiliser company.

Al-Wazir said in a statement emailed by K+S: “We will continue to make efforts to ensure that K+S has a successful future in our state and we stand by K+S’s side.”

He added that limiting the environmental damage caused by mining would also be much harder to negotiate with a Canadian company. “For that reason, too, we have an interest in K+S’s remaining a north Hessian company,” he said.

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Potash Corp. wants face time with K+S to save takeover deal – by David Stringer, Andrew Noël and Sheenagh Matthews (Bloomberg News/BNN – July 3, 2015)

http://www.bnn.ca/

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said it wants to meet with management of K+S AG as soon as possible to address concerns that led the German fertilizer producer to reject its 7.8 billion-euro ($8.7 billion U.S.) takeover offer.

“We are seeking to meet with K+S management at the earliest possible opportunity so that we can jointly discuss our commitments and further specify the details that would form the basis of a successful combination,” Potash Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jochen Tilk said in a statement on Friday.

Potash Corp. (POT.TO) seeks to reassure K+S that it wouldn’t be unraveled after the deal, saying the offer isn’t predicated on closing mines, curtailing production, selling the German company’s salt business or cutting jobs. It repeated the merits of its offer of 41 euros a share, after K+S CEO Norbert Steiner indicated in a earlier statement that a proposal of at least 50 euros a share would be more appropriate.

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K+S Said to Reject $8.6 Billion Takeover Bid by Potash Corp. – by Aaron Kirchfeld, Andrew Marc Noel and Sheenagh Matthews (Bloomberg News – July 2, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

K+S AG, the German potash supplier, plans to reject an $8.6 billion-plus takeover offer from Canadian fertilizer producer Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. because it deems the bid to be too low, according to people familiar with the matter.

The German company is preparing to announce its opposition to the bid as early as today, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. A representative for K+S declined to comment.

Potash Corp. plans to analyze K+S’s response and reasoning before deciding on its next move, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Canadian firm still sees the industrial logic for the deal and an opportunity to reach an agreement, they said.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash Corp. said on June 25 that it made a “friendly” takeover bid. The proposed price was more than 40 euros a share, people familiar with the matter said at the time, prompting shares of Kassel-based K+S AG to gain as much as 39 percent. Today, the stock dropped as much as 2.3 percent.

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Would a PotashCorp takeover of K+S lift potash prices? (Agrimoney.com – June 29, 2015)

http://www.agrimoney.com/

Do potash prices stand to benefit from the strengthening of the Canpotex consortium?

The news last week that the Canadian potash giant PotashCorp had made a takeover offer for German miner K+S raised the prospect that the potash industry was poised for a period of consolidation, after two years of fragmentation.

However Credit Suisse has cast doubt on the idea that such a consolidation would drive potash prices upward, at the same time as industry sources move to allay fears of supply restrictions in Germany.

Fracturing market

The global potash market was thrown into disarray in 2013 with the collapse of the BCP cartel. BCP constituted Belarusian state­owned producer Beleruskali and Russian miner Uralkali.

BCP and Canopotex, a consortium of North American miners of which Canpotex is the largest, maintained a duopoly on potash for decades, setting prices through negotiations with buying consortiums in China and India.

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