Melbourne-Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) is following up the recent announcement of a major phosphate rock offtake agreement with Legend International Holdings Inc. (GM May 12, p. 11) by investing in Legend. On May 5, Legend announced a long-term offtake and supply agreement for a minimum of 3 million mt/y of phosphate rock from its Lady Annie project in Queensland, Australia. Legend now reports that IFFCO will receive 30 million options in Legend. These are valued at $100.5 million, and when exercised will be utilized to fund expenditures related to the project. Under a separate agreement, IFFCO will purchase 15 million shares from Joseph Gutnick, Legend chairman, president, and CEO, at a price reflecting the development of the relationship between Gutnick and IFFCO. Dr. Awasthi, IFFCO’s managing director, will join the Legend board of directors, and IFFCO will hold the right to nominate another board member. Gutnick has the right to nominate three members. The offtake rock price will reflect the market price of long-term international supply agreements to the Indian market. However, the companies say an alternative mechanism would be the international phosphoric acid benchmark price. IFFCO is to provide both technical and financial facilitation to Legend in developing the project. Legend says its exploration licenses cover some 5.2 million acres in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
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