Vale scraps its plan to sell shares in its fertiliser arm
BRAZILIAN miner Vale said yesterday it has scrapped plans to sell stock in its fertiliser division, and now aims to take the unit private by buying up the share it does not already own.
Vale plans to pay up to 2.2bn reais (£870m) to buy out minority investors of Vale Fertilizantes, whose main asset is a stake in Fosfertil.
Vale Fertilizantes is one of Brazil’s leading makers of phosphate-based food nutrients.
“The next step will be to take Vale Fertilizantes private. Therefore, Vale is not considering an eventual listing of a subsidiary holding its fertilizer assets,” the company said.
In 2010, Vale said it was paying $3.8bn to acquire US-based Bunge’s fertilizer assets in Brazil, which included a stake in Fosfertil. Vale has vastly expanded its role in potassium and phosphates as demand has soared.