Bloomberg
Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group agreed to buy Suleiman Kerimov’s stake in OAO Uralkali, bolstering prospects that a standoff over a global marketing venture for key crop nutrient potash will be resolved.
The parties expect the purchase of the 21.75 percent stake to close shortly, Moscow-based Onexim said in a statement today. The terms are confidential, it said. The stake was valued at $3.5 billion at share prices for the world’s largest potash producer before the announcement.
The sale may defuse a dispute between Russia and Belarus sparked by Uralkali’s July withdrawal from a partnership that marketed 40 percent of global potash exports. The falling-out and Uralkali’s plan to boost production roiled the $20 billion market for the soil nutrient. Belarus has called for a change in the company’s ownership before a reconciliation is possible.
“The news is good for Uralkali and its investors, as Onexim will safeguard Uralkali’s corporate governance remaining at the highest level, which couldn’t be the case if there was be another, less transparent winner,” Konstantin Yuminov, an analyst at ZAO Raiffeisenbank in Moscow, said by phone today.
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