Agrium prices offering of $500 M 30-yr. debentures

Calgary-Agrium Inc. said Dec. 15 that it has agreed to issue and sell $500 million aggregate principal amount of 6.125 percent debentures due Jan. 15, 2041. The debentures, registered under the multi-jurisdictional disclosure system in Canada and the U.S., will only be offered and sold in the U.S. Agrium intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay US$125-million aggregate principal amount of its 8.25 percent debentures due February 15, 2011, and a portion of its outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facilities incurred in connection with the AWB Ltd. acquisition. The debentures will be unsecured and rank equally with Agrium’s existing senior unsecured debt. Agrium’s senior unsecured long-term debt is rated “Baa2” by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., “BBB” by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, and “BBB” by DBRS Limited. Agrium expects the new issue to be assigned the same ratings. The joint book-running managers for the offering are BNP Paribas Securities, RBC Capital Markets, and Scotia Capital. On Nov. 12, 2010, Agrium filed an amendment to its short form universal shelf prospectus to increase the maximum amount of securities that may be offered thereunder from $1 billion to $2 billion.