Perth-Burrup Holdings Ltd. on May 19 lodged its prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) to list on the Australian Securities Exchange. Burrup claims to have the largest single train merchant ammonia plant in the world, which it says will produce 800,000 mt of ammonia in fiscal 2009. The offering is to certain employee, retail, and institutional investors, and is expected to raise between $390-$502 million, with the share price ranging from $1.75-$2.25. Based on this range, market capitalization would be $1.95-2.5 billion. The offer comprises a sell-down of shares by existing shareholders, Pankaj Oswal as trustee for the Burrup Trust, and Yara Australia Pty Ltd., as well as an issue of new shares by Burrup Holdings. Going into the IPO the company was owned 70 percent by Oswal/Burrup Trust and 30 percent by Yara. After the IPO, it will be 53 percent Oswal/Burrup Trust, 27 percent Yara, and 20 percent new shareholders. Yara has a 20 year off-take and marketing agreement for the Burrup ammonia. Just last week (GM May 19, p. 11), Burrup and Yara announced plants to build a 350,000 mt/y technical ammonium nitrate plant in Australia.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain