Billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who this week bought stakes in Uralkali and Silvinit, may merge the two to create the world’s second-largest potash producer, analysts at Troika Dialog and Alfa Bank said.
Fellow billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev sold 53.2 percent of Uralkali to a group of investors led by Kerimov, the company said Monday. Kerimov, a senator and former State Duma deputy, also acquired a 20 percent stake in Silvinit, Russia’s largest potash producer, from Rybolovlev, Vedomosti reported Tuesday.
“Kerimov could have enough political muscle to facilitate” a merger, Mikhail Stiskin, an analyst at Troika Dialog, wrote Tuesday in a report. The billionaire may then seek a share sale or merger with a fertilizer or metals company such as Norilsk Nickel, he said.
About $11 billion of fertilizer and agricultural-chemicals mergers and acquisitions have been announced or completed since the end of 2008, Bloomberg data show. BHP Billiton and Vale, the two largest mine operators, are among companies buying fertilizer assets as demand for food, fuel and fiber rises.
Uralkali and Silvinit would have 11.5 million metric tons of capacity, challenging Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan.
Kerimov bought 25 percent of Uralkali, Polymetal co-owner Alexander Nesis acquired 15 percent and Eurocement Group owner Filaret Galchev purchased 13.2 percent, with the total acquisition worth about $5.3 billion. ?
The transactions may revive government plans to create a state-run fertilizer holding company, according to Alfa Bank.