Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has approved a $24 billion merger between major fertilizer producers Uralkali and Silvinit, currently frozen due to a court injunction, after Uralkali fulfilled its competition requirements, Uralkali said in a statement on Monday.
“According to one of the conditions Uralkali has to develop and approve its marketing policy. The company will have to regulate its potash sales across various consumer categories in Russia (including agricultural producers, compound fertilizer manufacturers and trade customers),” Uralkali said in a statement.
Despite the injunction, Uralkali expects the merger, which would create the world’s second largest potash producer, to be completed before the end of the second quarter.
“The FAS approval means that the service was satisfied with the domestic market support package developed by Uralkali,” CEO Vladislav Baumgertner said.
The deal was put on ice after a suit from Akron, a shareholder in Silvinit, which said the merger was skewed in favor of Uralkali.
In the first stage of the merger, Uralkali acquired 20% of Silvinit for $1.4 billion and in the second stage, it planned to issue 1.2 billion shares worth 600 million rubles to swap them for Silvinit’s ordinary and preferred stock.
MOSCOW, April 4 (RIA Novosti)