June 12, 2012
PotashCorp retreats from hiking Israel Chemicals'' stake
The world''s largest fertiliser producer, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp), withdrew from hiking its stake in Israel Chemicals Ltd, Israeli newspaper reported Monday (June 11).
Saskatchewan-based PotashCorp, which was a takeover target in 2010 by BHP Billiton, dropped its plan of increasing its holding in Israel Chemicals from 13.9% to as much as 25%.
The Saskatchewan-based company has yet not officially issued a press release, but a spokesperson for PotashCorp said today in an interview that it decided to withdraw as the request was taking a long time in obtaining the Israel government and antitrust clearance.
PotashCorp had submitted its application in December to Israel''s Ministry of Finance to raise its stake, but both the ministry and the Israeli regulator Noa Zvi refused to comment on the report.
PotashCorp is the world''s largest fertiliser company by capacity, producing three primary plant nutrients and a leading supplier to three distinct market categories - agriculture, animal nutrition and industrial chemicals.
The company holds 22% of the world''s potash production capacity, 2% of nitrogen production capacity and 6% of phosphate supply. It holds the right to mine 773,474 acres of land in Saskatchewan; and 58,263 acres of land in New Brunswick in Canada.
Potash Corp is part of the North American potash cartel Canpotex, the world''s largest exporter of potash. The other two companies that are part of the cartel are Calgary-based Agrium, a leading global producer of fertilisers, Mosaic Canada Crop Nutrition, a subsidiary of the US phosphate and potash giant The Mosaic Company.
Potash Corp supplies Canpotex with 53.6% of its potash, Mosaic 37.1% and Agrium 9.3%. Canpotex''s major markets include Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Malaysia with annual shipments in the range of eight to nine tonnes.
The other cartel is Belarus Potash Company, the marketing company for Russia''s Uralkali and Belarus-based Belaruskali. Belaruskali, Uralkali, Silvinit are the world''s third, fifth and sixth-largest potash fertiliser producers respectively.
Tel-Aviv-based Israel Chemicals is the world''s sixth-largest producer of potash and one of Israel''s largest companies.