EuroChem Negotiating with Borealis for Nitrogen Assets
EuroChem, a Russian-owned fertilizer producer headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Borealis’s nitrogen business, making a binding offer of €455 million. The deal could complete in the second half of 2022.
The activities to be acquired include Borealis’s fertilizer, melamine and technical nitrogen products – the latter two would be new business lines for EuroChem. In 2020, Borealis’s nitrogen business reported volume sales of 3.9 million t, achieving revenues of €908 million.
Vladimir Rashevskiy, EuroChem’s CEO, said: “EuroChem is a global leader in the mineral fertilizer industry, with a significant presence in all major markets. The addition of the Borealis nitrogen business to our portfolio, once approved, will strengthen our foothold considerably in such a key market as Europe.”
Borealis has more than 50 distribution points across Europe, supplying about 4 million t/y of products, including about 800,000 t/y of technical nitrogen solutions and roughly 150,000 t/y of melamine throughout western, central and southeastern Europe.
EuroChem has key manufacturing facilities in Russia, Belgium, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania. The acquisition would give it five additional production plants owned by Borealis up to now, in Austria, Germany and France, as well as access to a comprehensive sales and distribution network that mainly uses the Danube River.
Borealis said it will continue to focus on its core activities of providing innovative and sustainable solutions in the fields of polyolefins and base chemicals and on the transformation toward a circular economy.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
