K+S in Americas Sale Talks with Stone Canyon
Responding to market rumors, German potash and salt company K+S has confirmed it is in “very advanced negotiations” with US-based global industrial holding company Stone Canyon Industries Holdings about a potential sale of its Americas operating unit.
The Kassel-headquartered group stated that it expects the price to be $3.2 billion but added that agreements have not been signed and there is no certainty that a deal can be reached.
Having decided on the divestment in a move to generate value and reduce debt, K+S mandated banks in March to sell the business, which includes salt operations in North and South America, as well as Morton Salt and K+S Chile. The company’s new 2 million t/y potash mine in Bethune, Saskatchewan, Canada, is not part of the sale.
Stone Canyon already operates a salt business. It created SCI Salt, following the $2 billion acquisition on Apr. 1 of Kissner, a US producer of bulk, specialty and evaporated salt. Kissner’s operations comprise two rock salt mines in Detroit, Michigan, and Lyons, Kansas; an evaporated salt business, including a refinery in Watkins Glen, New York; three salt production facilities co-located on potash mines in Western Canada; multiple packaging facilities and a network of distribution and storage facilities throughout the US.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
