Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP reported a net loss of $8.9 million ($0.23 per basic and diluted unit) on sales of $113.6 million for the second quarter ending June 30, 2014, compared to a year-ago income of $28.7 million ($0.74 per unit) and $104 million, respectively.

Rentech released the information Aug. 18 in filing its Form 10-Q. The release had been delayed while the company calculated the amount of an expected impairment to goodwill for its Pasadena, Texas, facility. Rentech took the anticipated $27.2 million charge. Previously, Rentech had released only select results (GM Aug. 18, p. 1).

The Pasadena segment reported a second-quarter operating loss of $33.5 million on revenues of $39.7 million versus the year-ago $138,000 and $42.2 million, respectively.

Rentech Nitrogen reported a six month net loss of $5.8 million ($0.15 per unit) on sales of $169.9 million compared to the year-ago positive $43.7 million ($1.12 per unit) and $163.5 million, respectively.

The Pasadena segment reported a six-month operating loss of $34.3 million on sales of $67.4 million versus the year-ago positive $2 million and $67.2 million, respectively.

Rentech confirmed that it identified certain material weaknesses in internal financial controls (ICFR) and disclosure controls and procedures (DCP). While it does not believe the problem will result in material misstatements, it expects to be amending its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, as well as its Form 10-Q for the quarter ending March 31, 2014. It expects these weaknesses to be remedied going forward.

Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP and its majority owner Rentech Inc. did not file second quarter (10-Q) reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Aug. 11 as earlier planned. On Aug. 7, both said the Aug. 11 filing was expected.

On Aug. 11, the companies said the filing could not be made without unreasonable effort or expense because the company is completing its review of the accounting for impairments of goodwill related to the Pasadena, Texas, nitrogen plant, both for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, and prior period.

In third-quarter 2013, Rentech Nitrogen recognized a $30 million goodwill impairment for the facility. It said Aug. 7 that it may now recognize a charge of impairment of up to all of the remaining goodwill in the facility ($27 million).

Rentech said it will file its Form 10-Q as soon as practicable and noted that the company may have to restate earnings for earlier periods.

Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC will begin construction in mid-September on a previously-announced $1.3 billion expansion project at its Enid, Okla., facility. The project will be implemented over the next three years and will increase production capacity by more than 1 million tons per year.

The expansion project is comprised of a number of projects, including: Construction of a 900,000 ton-per-year urea plant; efficiency improvements and capacity increases to existing ammonia plants; and added capability to produce high-purity urea to serve the diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) market; construction of high-speed truck and rail loading facilities, complementing the existing access of the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific railroads; construction of an additional 90,000 tons of urea storage capacity; construction of infrastructure to process water discharged from the city of Enid’s wastewater treatment plant, substantially reducing the facility’s use of drinking water; and construction of an electric power substation to supply new power and improve the reliability of existing power to the facility.

“This investment by Koch Nitrogen is one of the largest construction projects in the history of Koch Industries,” said David Robertson, president and chief operating officer of Koch Industries Inc. “It reflects the ongoing growth of our fertilizer business and underscores our commitment to innovation and creating long-term value.”

The project will employ up to 1,000 contractors during the 18-24 months of construction. In addition, 50-60 permanent employees will be added to support the expanded facilities.

“These improvements and additions to our Enid facility will significantly enhance our current operations and allow us to meet our customers’ needs in a more efficient and effective manner,” said Chase Koch, president, Koch Fertilizer LLC. “We appreciate our positive working relationship with the State of Oklahoma, the Garfield County Board of Commissioners, the Enid Regional Development Alliance and the city of Enid. We are looking forward to breaking ground on this important investment.”

The following companies are participating in the project: Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company, is providing project planning, engineering and procurement services; KBR, a global engineering, construction and services company, has been selected to provide urea engineering and procurement services and overall construction management; and Stamicarbon, the global market leader in licensing of urea technology and services, is providing the urea synthesis and granulation technology.

The Koch Nitrogen facility in Enid is one of the largest fertilizer production plants in North America, producing ammonia, UAN (liquid fertilizer) and granular urea. It was built in 1974 and purchased by Koch Nitrogen in 2003. The site currently employs more than 150 people in the fields of engineering, operations and maintenance.

Agrium Inc. reported second-quarter net earnings of $616 million ($4.28 per diluted share) on sales of $7.34 billion down from the year-ago $747 million ($5.02 per share) and $6.91 billion, respectively.

Agrium reported record results for its Retail segment, with earnings before income taxes of $714 million on sales of $6.4 billion, up from $562 million on sales of $5.56 billion. Agrium said the strong results were supported by recent acquisitions in Canada and Australia.

In the meantime, Wholesale EBIT was down at $191 million on sales of $1.2 billion from $465 million and $1.59 billion, respectively.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported second-quarter net income attributable to common stockholders of $312.6 million ($6.10 per diluted share) on sales of $1.47 billion, down from the year-ago $498.2 million ($8.38 per share) and $1.71 billion, respectively.

Quarter highlights included record ammonia shipments and the company expects a strong fall ammonia application season as well.

CF said first-half U.S. Gulf urea prices were at a $10-$30 per ton premium to international markets, and the strong domestic shipments left inventories low at the end of the season. However, it expects increased Chinese exports to put more pressure on prices during the second half.

CF expects over 90 million acres of corn will be planted in 2015 and expects robust nitrogen demand in second-half 2014.

Also during the quarter, CF had $20 million of idle plant costs related to the unscheduled downtime at the Woodward, Okla., nitrogen plant. In the meantime, CF said during the quarter it made significant strides at its expansion projects at Donaldsonville, La., and Port Neal, Iowa.

CF said its board has authorized a 50 percent increase in the company’s quarterly cash dividend from $1.00 to $1.50 per share, and authorized a $1 billion share repurchase program through Dec. 31, 2016.

Yara International ASA has entered into an agreement to acquire a 60 percent stake in Galvani Indústria, Comércio e Serviços S/A (Galvani), for an enterprise value of US$318 million.

Galvani is an independent, privately held fertilizer company, controlled by Rodolfo Galvani Jr., a Brazilian entrepreneur. The company is engaged in phosphate mining, Single Super Phosphate (SSP) production and distribution of fertilizers in the center and northeast of Brazil. Galvani also owns licenses for two new greenfield phosphate mine projects in Brazil.

Yara said the acquisition is in line with its strategy for growth in Latin America, seeking to develop a production footprint in Brazil to complement its established position, following the recent acquisition of the Bunge fertilizer business in Brazil.

"This acquisition represents another significant step in realizing our Latin American growth strategy, further establishing our position in Brazil as a long-term industry player, committed to developing and investing in Brazilian agribusiness," said Jørgen Ole Haslestad, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yara.

"The Galvani acquisition will help secure phosphate fertilizer capacity in the center of the country and in the attractive and fast growing agri frontiers of Brazil. Furthermore Galvani brings excellent industry competence with cost-effective solutions for mining, production, blending and warehousing facilities," said Jørgen Ole Haslestad.

Galvani 2013 revenues amounted to US$352 million, with an EBITDA of US$48 million. The company has a total SSP production capacity of approximately 1 million mt/y through the industrial complex of Paulinia and Luis Eduardo Magalhaes. Both sites source phosphate rock from two own mines, Lagamar and Angico dos Dias, and the leased mine Irece. To cover future demand for phosphate rock, Galvani has two greenfield and one brownfield mining project under development, as follows:

Salitre (greenfield): up to ~1,200,000 mt phosphate rock per annum Angico (brownfield): additional ~150,000 mt phosphate rock per annum Santa Quiteria (greenfield): up to ~800,000 mt phosphate rock per annum

In addition to phosphate rock production, the projects under development include new upgrading capacity for phosphate fertilizer. Start-up for the various projects is expected between 3 and 5 years from closing date.

The enterprise value of US$318 million for 60 percent of Galvani comprises US$132 million for the existing business and US$186 million for the mining/production projects, and will be adjusted for any deviation from normalized working capital (US$42 million) at the time of closing. As part of the agreement, Yara will also, based on certain conditions, inject a total of US$165 million as equity. With Yara’s share of the company’s debt being US$93 million, the resulting total equity exposure for Yara will be US$390 million. Furthermore, given certain project-related conditions are met, the agreements with Galvani will commit Yara to support the company’s development of three specific mining and associated production projects with a total capital expenditure of US$920 million (Yara’s share US$552 million) until 2019, the funding of which will be decided based on maximizing value for the company.

To reflect the uncertainty of the future projects, the agreement includes several risk reduction elements such as payment conditional upon successful project studies and milestones as well as guarantees related to capital expenditures and operating expense levels.

The transaction is subject to the approval of Brazilian competition authorities (CADE) and other customary approvals. Closing is expected to take place in fourth quarter this year.