MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) – Funds tied to Russian billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Dmitry Mazepin have completed the acquisition of a combined 47 percent of potash giant Uralkali, the companies said on Friday, in a deal worth several billion dollars.
Prokhorov’s Onexim Group completed the acquisition of a 21.75 percent stake in Uralkali from fellow billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, an Onexim representative has said. The sale of that stake was first announced last month.
Other investment funds tied to Prokhorov bought an additional 5.34 percent of Uralkali, a source familiar with the deal has told RIA Novosti.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but the source previously told Prime news agency that the shares would be valued at about 200 rubles ($6.06) apiece. At that price the total 27.09 percent stake would be worth $4.8-$4.9 billion.
Uralchem investors led by billionaire Dmitry Mazepin completed a purchase of 20 percent of Uralkali yesterday, the company said in a statement, including stakes in the company owned by Filaret Galchev and Anatoly Skurov. On Monday the company said it had secured a $4.5 billion loan from VTB Capital to finance the deal.
Uralkali is one of a handful of major companies that control the manufacture of potash, a major ingredient in modern fertilizers.
The purchase is expected to defuse tensions with Belarus following a row last summer between Uralkali and its Belarusian partner Belaruskali, that began after Uralkali left a price-setting cartel that controlled some 40 percent of world potash production. The move sent potash prices – and Belarusian government revenues – plummeting.
Uralkali reported yesterday its revenues in the last quarter were down 19 percent year-on-year.
Uralkali’s CEO Vladislav Baumgertner, arrested in Belarus in August, was extradited to Russia last month and is now under house arrest.
