Oslo-Yara International ASA has decided to initiate an external investigation related to the establishment and follow-up of Yara’s interest in Libyan Norwegian Fertilizer Co. (Lifeco). Yara notified The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime of the possibility that criminal offences may have occurred before October 2008 in connection with the negotiations preceding the company’s investment in Libya. The external investigation will be headed by Jan Fougner, partner at the Norwegian law firm Wiersholm, Mellbye and Beck. In addition to the Libyan JV, the investigation will also look at potential integrity issues related to other JVs, though Yara said it is not aware of any “red-flags” for potential breach of ethical guidelines related to other JVs. Lifeco was established in February 2009 with a 50 percent Yara ownership, 25 percent National Oil Co. ownership, and 25 percent Libyan Investment Authority ownership. The company owns and operates ammonia and urea plants in Marsa El Brega, Libya, with a combined annual capacity of 900,000 mt of urea and 150,000 of mt merchant ammonia. Lifeco production was temporarily closed down during the second half of February due to the political unrest in Libya, and will remain closed until the situation has stabilized.

Sugar Land, Texas-CVR Partners LP said April 13 that it has closed its initial public offering of 22,080,000 common units at a public offering price of $16.00 per common unit, which included the sale of 19,200,000 common units in the base offering and 2,880,000 common units pursuant to the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The common units are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UAN. CVR Energy Inc. now indirectly owns approximately 69.8 percent of CVR Partners’ outstanding common units representing lp interests and CVR Partners’ general partner with its non-economic general partner interest. Gross proceeds from the IPO were $353.3 million, of which $135.4 million were paid as a dividend to Coffeyville Resources LLC, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVR Energy. Some $91.4 million of the IPO proceeds will be used to fund a 400,000 st/y UAN expansion (GM April 11, p. 16). The lp units closed Thursday, April 14, on the New York Stock Exchange at $17.00, having traded as high as $18.20 since their introduction April 8.

Plymouth, Minn.-The Mosaic Co. will hold a special meeting of stockholders to consider and vote upon certain matters in connection with its previously announced split-off transaction with Cargill Inc. (GM Jan. 24, p. 1). The special meeting is scheduled to be held May 11, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. The meeting will be held at Atria Corporate Center, 3033 Campus Drive, Plymouth, Minnesota 55441. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 23, 2011, will be entitled to vote by proxy or in person at the special meeting. For more information, see www.mosaicco.com.

St. Paul-CHS Inc. reported income for the first half (Sept. 1, 2010; Feb. 28, 2011) of its 2011 fiscal year of $396.3 million. This was a nearly 96 percent increase over the year-ago $202.6 million. Revenues for the first half reached $15.8 billion, up from the year-ago $12.1 billion. For the second quarter (Dec. 1, 2010; Feb. 28, 2011) CHS posted income of $194.6 million, compared with the year-ago $82.7 million. Revenues for the quarter were $7.7 billion, up from $5.9 billion a year ago. Second-quarter Ag Business earnings were $86.9 million, up from the year-ago $62.4 million, while year-to-date earnings were $241.6 million, up from $171.5 million. The Ag Business unit consists of grain marketing, crop nutrients, local retail operations, and oilseed processing businesses. CHS reported both increased grain demand and fertilizer activity. YTD earnings from the Energy segment reflected strong margins for petroleum refining operations driven by global market conditions, along with strong performance for its renewable fuels marketing business. Earnings were also strong for the CHS financing and hedging businesses, along with its Ventura Foods LLC, vegetable-oil based food, and Horizon Milling LLC, wheat milling joint ventures.

Minneapolis-Cargill Inc. reported $763 million in earnings from continuing operations in the fiscal 2011 third quarter ended Feb. 28, up 30 percent from $588 million in the same period a year ago. The company recorded $342 million attributable to its majority investment in The Mosaic Co. income now classified as earnings from discontinued operations following the two companies’ Jan. 18, 2011, announced agreement and upcoming closing of a split-off and orderly distribution of Cargill’s 64 percent ownership stake in Mosaic. Earnings from discontinued operations in the year-ago period were $310 million, of which $141 million was attributable to Mosaic. Cargill’s third-quarter net earnings totaled $1.11 billion, up 23 percent from $898 million in the prior year. In the first nine months, earnings from continuing operations were $2.29 billion, a 47 percent increase from a year ago. The addition of $1.19 billion in earnings from discontinued operations brought Cargill’s nine-month net income to $3.48 billion, compared with $1.91 billion in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenues excluding Mosaic rose 21 percent to $30.5 billion in the third quarter, bringing the total through the first nine months to $84.7 billion.

Elburn, Ill.-Elburn Cooperative Co. didn’t want to risk losing part of the family when Stover Brothers Trucking was put up for sale after 65 years in the business. After all, Stover Brothers had been a key part of Elburn Co-op as the primary hauler of fertilizer and grain for 40 of those 65 years. So Elburn jumped at the chance to buy Stover Brothers. “Trucks are trucks, but employees make the company,” Elburn General Manager John Husk offered. “Our customers have come to rely on Stover Brothers, so it was natural for us to purchase their assets and take on their drivers as our employees.” Husk said he was sure Elburn customers would be pleased about the development since “they will still get the same service with the change of ownership “right down to the drivers they are used to seeing week after week. The only difference will be the name on the side of the truck.” Stover Brothers Trucking started in 1946 with only a semi and a straight truck. Since then, the company has grown into a full-fledged operation with 13 trucks and drivers. But it was that rapid growth and the constantly changing marketplace that led the Stover family to consider selling. “Everything has a life cycle,” said Roger Stover, Stover president. “We knew we didn’t have another generation to keep the business going, and we wanted to make sure we could continue to take care of our loyal customers and our drivers.” His brother, Rick, commented that the Stover family could not be more pleased with the end result. “It is a perfect fit for us,” he added. “We’ve grown with Elburn Cooperative, and our guys are who the farmers see as the face of their company.”

Moscow-Uralkali announced that as the result of a hearing held April 13 by the Arbitration Court of Appeals, the injunction imposed by the Perm Territory Arbitration Court Feb. 25, 2011, halting the advance of the Uralkali/Silvinit merger has been lifted. “Lifting the injunction as well as the recent approval by the Russian Antimonopoly Service of the proposed combination of Uralkali and Silvinit will allow us to complete the merger, pursuant to the previously announced timetable and in accordance with the terms announced and subsequently supported by the overwhelming majority shareholders of both companies,” said Vladislav Baumgertner, Uralkali CEO. In other news, both companies announced their production results for the three months ended March 31, 2011. Over that period Uralkali shipped 1.265 million mt of potassium chloride (KCl), which is 2 percent higher than in Q1-2010. Silvinit shipped approximately 1.34 million mt of KCl in the first quarter, an increase of 16 percent on the corresponding quarter in 2010. “The first three months of this year have seen both Uralkali and Silvinit reach pre-crisis production levels,” said Baumgertner. “This was achieved through extensive maintenance work that the two companies carried out at their production units. In addition, in Q1-2011 Silvinit completed a project converting Shaft 3 of SKRU-3 from the extraction of sodium chloride to sylvinite ore.