CF Industries Says Agrium Could Afford $100/Share For Takeover
March 23 2009 - 9:12AM
Dow Jones News
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) said Monday that fertilizer
rival Agrium Inc. (AGU) could afford to price its hostile takeover
bid at $100 a share, reiterating its rejection of a lower
offer.
CF's board has called on shareholders to reject Agrium's offer
of $31.70 in cash and 1.7866 of its own shares for each CF share,
or $72 in cash. The offer, which Agrium is taking directly to CF
shareholders, was valued at $67.96 based on Friday's closing
prices.
The U.S. fertilizer company railed against the offer from the
larger Canadian company, criticizing its integration efforts in
previous deals and claiming it was trying to buy CF on the cheap at
the bottom of the market.
On a conference call, CF executives said their advisers
suggested Agrium could afford to pay $100 a share and still keep a
deal accretive, and also criticized the "vagueness" of its suitor's
synergy targets.
Steve Wilson, CF's chief executive, said on the call that
industry pricing has improved since the final quarter of 2008 after
a slump that wiped billions of dollars from sector valuations.
CF also sweetened its all-stock bid for Terra Industries Inc.
(TRA) to $3.07 billion.
-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135;
doug.cameron@dowjones.com