Nutrien closing in on selling stakes in SQM, Arab Potash Co – CEO
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Canadian fertiliser and farm supply dealer Nutrien is actively dealing with prospective buyers of its stakes in lithium producer SQM and Arab Potash Co, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
Nutrien is selling minority stakes in those companies as part of pledges to regulators who approved this year the merger of Agrium and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, which created Nutrien.
"We have buyers for both," CEO Chuck Magro said in a phone interview from Palm Springs, California. "It's a pretty active process now and so they're going through all those stages they normally go through to look at the assets and do their due diligence."
Magro declined to say how many parties were considering a purchase of each stake.
"Things can take very different turns, but our perspective is things are going very well today," he said.
Interest in the SQM stake has been strong due to huge forecast demand for lithium, which is used in electric vehicles. The pending sale received a further boost last month when Chilean development agency Corfo struck a deal with SQM in a royalty dispute, freeing SQM to apply for an increase in its production quota.
Nutrien may sell the Arab Potash stake in the second quarter, CFO Wayne Brownlee said on an earlier call with analysts. The company is aiming to sell the SQM stake sometime in 2018.
Timing is difficult to predict because of the role of regulators in approving deals, Brownlee said.
Nutrien owns 32% of Chile's SQM, and about 28% of Arab Potash. The sales are likely to generate net proceeds of $3.8 billion, according to the Bank of Montreal.
Nutrien shares tumbled 3% to C$58.56 in Toronto, paring earlier losses, after the company's first full-year outlook disappointed investors.
The company, which operates six Canadian potash mines, wants to shift production to its lowest-cost facilities, said Raef Sully, president of Nutrien's potash business on the analyst call.
All options are on the table, including closing higher-cost mines, and may be reviewed in the second half of the year, Sully said.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation