CF, Yara terminate discussions

CF Industries Holdings Inc. said Oct. 16 that it and Yara International ASA have terminated their discussions regarding a potential merger of equals transaction. Discussions were first announced Sept. 23.

“I want to thank the management team and board of directors of Yara International for their cooperation and professionalism throughout our discussions,” said Tony Will, CF president and CEO. “Although we identified very significant operational and structural synergies, we were ultimately unable to agree on terms of a transaction that met the requirements of all our respective shareholders.”

“CF Industries has a strong stand-alone business plan and we are confident in the material increase in our cash flow generation as our capacity expansion projects come on-stream as scheduled,” he said. “We remain fully committed to driving shareholder value creation by investing in high return projects while returning excess cash to stockholders through dividends and a substantial share repurchase program.”