CF Industries Agrees To Acquire Remaining 50% Interest In GrowHow For $580 Mln

(RTTNews) - CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) Wednesday said it has agreed with Yara International ASA to acquire its 50 percent equity interest in GrowHow UK Limited for total cash consideration of $580 million, making GrowHow a wholly owned subsidiary.

At closing, the GrowHow business will be consolidated into CF Industries with a cash free, debt free balance sheet.

GrowHow owns and operates nitrogen production facilities in Ince and Billingham, U.K.

The Ince facility is located in northwestern England and consists of an ammonia plant, three nitric acid plants, an ammonium nitrate plant and three NPK fertilizer compound plants.

The Billingham facility is located in the Teesside chemical area in northeastern England, and consists of an ammonia plant, three nitric acid plants, a carbon dioxide plant and an ammonium nitrate fertilizer plant.

Combined, the two facilities have the capacity to produce around 0.9 million short tons of gross ammonia, 1.2 million short tons of ammonium nitrate and 0.4 million short tons of NPK compounds.

As of May 31, prior to purchase accounting and on a U.S. GAAP basis, GrowHow had total inventories of 66 million pounds, receivables of 41 million pounds, and fixed assets of 195 million pounds.

The company also had current liabilities of 43 million pounds, long-term payables of 14 million pounds, and a net pension deficit of 90 million pounds.