K+S Considers Selling Compo Division to Focus on Potash, Salt

Chemical News: K+S Considers Selling Compo Division to Focus on Potash, Salt

https://www.chemnet.com Jun 10,2010 (Bloomberg)
June 9 -- K+S AG, Europe’s biggest potash producer, is considering selling its Compo home-and-garden fertilizer unit to focus on potash and salt.

Compo, which makes fertilizers, plant-protection products and potting soil, operates in a very fragmented, highly competitive market that will require consolidation, the company said in a statement today. The division had sales of about 400 million euros ($477 million) last year and employs 1,100 people worldwide.

K+S said it hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to advise it on the process, and it expects a result within a year. The Kassel, Germany-based company will plan in the next few months“a possible carve-out”of the unit.

K+S became the world’s largest salt producer following the purchase of Morton Salt from Dow Chemical Co. last year, a transaction that will add more than 500 million euros to revenue this year. K+S had 3.57 billion euros in revenue last year.

Chief Executive Officer Norbert Steiner on May 11 told shareholders K+S was working on several projects involving possible potash acquisitions and also said the company may make more purchases in salt.

Print | add to Favorites | Close