Mosaic misses quarterly profit estimates, finance chief to retire
Mosaic had cut its Q3 production forecast following equipment failures in Canada and hurricanes at the US Gulf Coast.
North America’s second largest potash producer Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) will remain an independent company, reports Bloomberg.
The company said it’s unlikely larger miners, like BHP or Vale, would acquire it owing to antitrust legislation in the US.
Cargill Inc. still owns $8 million in shares even though the potash company was split off from it two years ago. Mosaic said it would start negotiations with the private company about buying back its outstanding 129 million shares.
After that, the Minnesota-based producer said it plans to grow through new joint ventures, mine expansion and possibly acquire smaller companies, like Intrepid Potash Inc. (NYSE: IPI) in Denver or Incitec Pivot Ltd.(ASX: IPL) in Australia.
The company said rather than developing new mines, expansion at existing mines, a.k.a. brownfield projects, are the most viable at current commodity prices.
Potash was selling for $410 per tonne at the Port of Vancouver recently — a 19% decrease compared to the year before.
Image courtesy Mosaic
