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Yara Seeks CF Merger for $20 Billion in Fertilizer Sales


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Yara Seeks CF Merger for $20 Billion in Fertilizer Sales

Business

Category: Chemicals / Metals

Yara Internatinoal ASA is in merger talks with CF Industries Holdings Inc. that would enable it to expand in North America and create the world’s largest fertilizer supplier with about $20 billion in sales.

Discussions are at an “early stage” with no guarantee of a transaction, Oslo-based Yara said today in a statement. Yara rose as much as 10 percent in Norway trading, increasing the company’s market value to about $14.1 billion. CF, which climbed as much as 7.6 percent, has a market capitalization of about $13.4 billion.

“At the end of the day you’ll find that Yara is better positioned” to be the leader in a combination of the two companies, Patrick Lambert, an analyst at Nomura International Plc, said by phone. “It’s a global market and CF is just a U.S. company.”

A tie-up with Deerfield, Illinois-based CF Industries promises savings in raw materials as U.S. fertilizer makers benefit from North America’s shale-driven boom in production of natural gas, an important component in fertilizer manufacturing. Yara has earmarked North America as a priority for expansion, a region that currently generates about 16 percent of its revenue.

Yara rose as much as 10 percent to 345 kroner in Oslo and traded at 325 kroner at the close. CF increased 5.3 percent to close at $269.37 in New York.

Source: Bloomberg

Published: March 29, 2024