Yara Buys Fertilizer Plant

Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara International has agreed to buy Canada's Saskferco, the nitrogen fertilizer joint venture between Mosaic and provincial government-owned Investment Saskatchewan, for $1.6 billion. In the deal, expected to close by the end of September, Yara will receive its first major plant in North America: Saskferco's plant in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. The facility, one of the largest of its kind in the region, has annual capacity of 650,000 metric tons of ammonia, 980,000 metric tons of urea, and 230,000 metric tons of urea ammonium nitrate fertilizers. Saskferco generated about $500 million in revenues and earned about $200 million before taxes in its fiscal year that ended in May. Separately, Yara and the National Oil Corp. of Libya and the Libyan Investment Authority agreed to establish a joint venture to operate NOC's existing fertilizer plants at Marsa El Brega, Libya. The partners will jointly market output from the plants, which have a capacity of 700,000 metric tons of ammonia and 900,000 metric tons of urea.