Cnooc chemical bid for belarus potash

Date：2017-09-15

       As BHP stepped up its bid for potashcorp, cnooc began looking for alternatives to the target company.

       On September 15th a person familiar with the matter told caijing that cnooc, a subsidiary of cnooc, is in talks with potash giant belarusian potash corp. The people familiar with the matter did not disclose the exact amount and timeline of the deal.

       The source also said that potashcorp had previously discussed the acquisition with cnooc, but had not negotiated a deal beyond the Chinese bottom line.

       In fact, the market for the potash acquisition of belarus has never been cut off, and in April there was a news that the two sides were negotiating a share sale, but Russia denied it.

       Then in June, belarus's first deputy prime minister, shea shashko, made clear his intention to sell a stake in belarus. According to local media reports at the time, he hoped the government would raise $6 billion to $7 billion by selling a roughly 25 percent stake in the belarusian potash company.

       Potashcorp is the world's largest potash corporation and one of the main sources of potash imports from China.

       According to public information, belarus national company owns a 45% stake in belarus potash (BPC), ural potash has BPC50 % shares, the remaining 5% by belarus railway holding company, the BPC is two companies potash export federation. It has 4 potassium mines in the Soligorsk region, with total output of 9 million tons of potassium chloride, and 8.28 million tons of potassium chloride in 2008.