EuroChem buys Belgium fertilizer assets of BASF
BASF has signed a contract with Moscow-based EuroChem to sell its fertilizer activities in Antwerp, Belgium. BASF also plans to sell its 50% share of the PEC-Rhin joint venture in Ottmarsheim, France, to EuroChem, it said.
The total transaction value is expected to be approximately €700 million. The divestments are subject to approval by the appropriate antitrust authorities.
BASF plans to complete the transactions by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
In Antwerp, the scope includes plants for CAN/AN (calcium ammonium nitrate/ammonium nitrate) fertilizers, Nitrophoska fertilizers and nitrophosphoric acid as well as three related nitric acid plants.
BASF is in the process of carving out the activities into a separate company, it said. About 330 employees will transfer to the new company which will be acquired by EuroChem.
BASF also plans to sell its shares in PEC-Rhin, which produces CAN/AN fertilizers and the respective intermediates, ammonia and nitric acid. The company is a 50-50 joint venture with GPN, a member of the French Total group, and currently has about 190 employees.
“Our very skilled team and the highly competitive plants will have a sustainable future and will create additional value with a strategic buyer whose core business is fertilizer,” said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF, responsible for the chemicals segment.
“Furthermore, EuroChem is an excellent partner to support our Verbund concept at the Antwerp site,” he added.
Dmitry Strezhnev, CEO of EuroChem, said: “With the acquisition of BASF’s fertilizer complex in Antwerp, EuroChem will be gaining high-quality production assets with superior logistics that provide it with further geographical diversification and significantly improve its proximity to European customers.
The same would be true for the 50% share of PEC-Rhin,” he continued. “This is in line with our strategy to increase our share in the global fertilizer industry through both organic expansion and targeted acquisitions. We are also pleased to become BASF’s long-term industrial partner on the integrated Antwerp site.”
The fertilizer activities have a total capacity of approximately 2.5 million tpy of fertilizer and account for less than 1% of BASF’s total sales, the company said.
BASF’s fertilizer operations in Ludwigshafen are not included in the scope of the divestment.
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