Kassel, Germany — K+S Group said Aug. 10 that a survey of private shareholders showed opposition to a sale of the company to Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Some 30 percent of 140,000 private shareholders responded. The company said 84 percent of the respondents supported the rejection of the PotashCorp bid. Likewise, 84 percent said they were long-term K+S investors, and 78 percent believed the company should remain independent. However, only 55 percent of the investors felt they were well informed on the deal. “Our private shareholders have made their position clear. They share the assessment of the K+S board of executive directors and supervisory board that the current PotashCorp proposal fails to reflect the fundamental value of K+S. At the same time, our private shareholders have given us a clear mandate to keep on realizing what they consider to be attractive future prospects for K+S,” said Norbert Steiner, board chairman. “The response from private investors was overwhelming," said K+S CFO Dr. Burkhard Lohr. “The prevailing view among them is in line with that taken by the overwhelming majority of institutional investors that we are in touch with and who also welcome the rejection of the PotashCorp proposal.” Not everyone agreed with K+S. According to Bloomberg, Scotiabank Analyst Ben Isaacson wrote in a note that if the company surveyed institutional investors the result would be “quite different.” He expected those investors would “jump at the opportunity” to cash out, and surmised that the shareholder rejection was more due to emotional attachment than company value. The survey was carried out and evaluated by a market research institute on behalf of K+S.
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