Turkey’s Toros Tarim, Istanbul, has purchased the Agroport fertilizer business in Romania from Nutrien Ltd., Saskatoon. Nutrien confirmed on Sept. 5 that the deal had closed and told Green Markets that it was not material to Nutrien.
Toros Tarım, Turkey’s largest fertilizer manufacturer, said the purchase is in line with its goal to become a regional player. “Our goal is to make Romania, an important agricultural country, our second largest market, to make our brand known there,” said Hakan Göral, Toros Tarim Board Chairman and Vice President, Agricultural Industry, of Toros’ parent, conglomerate Tekfen Holding.
Agroport will officially be registered this month as Toros Agroport Romania SA.
Agrium Inc., a Nutrien legacy company, purchased Agroport in 2011 (GM May 9, 2011). At the time, it included key sales and distribution assets along the Danube in Romania. Agrium received the Romanian assets as part of the package when it purchased Agroport’s parent, Italy’s CerealToscana SA. The 2011 combined purchase price was $27 million plus working capital.
Gross sales were put at $200 million and an average EBITDA of $8 million over the past three years, before anticipated synergies. CerealToscana and Agroport had 90,000 mt of storage, with key Italian distribution assets in Livorno and Ravenna. The combined assets sold an estimated 400,000 mt of fertilizer per year, including commodity and specialty products. At the time, Agrium said the acquisition was complementary to its existing European fertilizer distribution business and would allow it to further leverage its Egyptian urea offtake agreement (GM Jan. 8, 2016).