Uralkali leadership is going to buy controlling stake of Belaruskali. Recently, one of the owners of Russian company, Suleiman Kerimov, has met with Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko. The businessman offered to buy Belaruskali controlling stake at of 7.5 billion dollars, a source close to one of Uralkali shareholders said.
According to an employee of the state bank, Suleiman Kerimov negotiated with on financing the transaction, the businessman is really interested in buying Belaruskali shares, but it is not about controlling stake. Moreover, Belarusian authorities assess Belaruskali at high enough price — at 20-30 billion dollars, said the banker, Vedomosti informs.
At the same time, the spokesman of Alexander Lukashenko, Pavel Legky, stated that the president had not met with Russian businessmen recently, and had not discussed the sale of Belaruskali. In addition, according to Unicredit Securities analyst, Marat Gabitov, because of the conflict between Belarus and Russia, Uralkali is hardly to buy Belaruskali shares without a political decision at the highest level.
In addition to Belaruskali acquisition, Suleiman Kerimov is in talks to buy controlling stake of another, already Russia’s, potash company — Silvinit. As ING analyst, Alexander Melnikov, says, in the case of both transactions success there will appear the largest potash company in the world, with the total output of 20 million tons per year. Today’s leader Potash Corp produces 15 million tons.
As Telegraf previously reported, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, Vladimir Semashko, answering questions of the MPs stated that the government intended to receive six or seven billion dollars after sale of Belaruskali shares. First Deputy Minister emphasized that the control interest of the holding would not be given to anybody.
Belaruskali supervises 15 % of world export of potash fertilizers. The exclusive seller of its products is the Belarusian potash company, which owns Belaruskali on equal footing with the Russian company Uralkali.
