March 5, 2010

CF renews offer for Terra

CF Industries offered to acquire US fertiliser producer Terra Industries for US$4.73 billion in a renewed bid to create the largest US maker of nitrogen-based fertilisers.

The proposal includes US$37.15 in cash and 0.0953 of a CF Industries share for each Terra share, CF said in a statement. The offer is valued at US$47.40 per share based on CF's closing price on Monday (Mar 1), CF said.

CF's bid would rival one from Yara International ASA, the world's largest fertiliser maker, which agreed to buy Terra for US$4.1 billion last month.

In January, CF Industries dropped a hostile attempt to acquire Sioux City, Iowa-based Terra. CF had sought to buy Terra since January 2009 while fending off a hostile offer from Calgary-based Agrium. At stake was whether Agrium or CF would be the world's second-largest publicly traded maker of nitrogen-based fertilisers after Oslo-based Yara.