Plymouth, Minn.-The Mosaic Co. has announced that it is notifying the lenders under its senior secured bank credit facility of its election to prepay $150.0 million principal amount of term loans on June 29, 2007. This prepayment is in addition to the $250.0 million previously prepaid on May 1, 2007. The prepayments are being made from available cash generated by the ongoing business operations of Mosaic and its subsidiaries. Mosaic considers the prepayments to be a significant step in its plan to reduce outstanding borrowings, strengthen its balance sheet, and achieve investment grade credit ratings. Fitch Ratings was watching, and removed Mosaic from its Ratings Watch Negative as a result of the prepay; Fitch now has Mosaic on stable. It had taken the negative action due to the brine flow problem Mosaic had announced earlier in the year. The inflow problem has abated, and Fitch says it is satisfied that the mitigation efforts at the mine are now complete and there is no longer a threat to future earnings and cash flow. Brine inflow has declined from an initial estimate of 20,000-25,000 gpm to less than 4,000 gpm. Fitch said the mine is currently capable of pumping 12,000 gpm, far above mine requirements. The mine, which recently completed a 1.1 metric mt expansion, is currently operating at near full capacity of 5.3 million mt per year.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain