All Posts from June 10, 2014

Wisconsin co-ops announce merger plans

The board of directors of Allied Cooperative, headquartered in Adams, Wisc., and Arcadia Co-op, headquartered in Arcadia, Wisc., have signed a letter of intent for a merger. The co-ops announced on June 9 that they will complete a feasibility study over the next several weeks. Pending the results of this study, member meetings will be set up and ballots sent to Arcadia’s voting members later this summer. If approved, the merger will be effective Dec. 1, 2014.

“We believe the merger is a natural fit,” said Bob Boberg, Arcadia Co-op general manager. “With an increasingly competitive and ever-changing marketplace, a strong cooperative will help to protect our members equity while ensuring that our members have the products and services they require. The two cooperatives share the same vision and commitment to our customers, employees, and the communities we serve. Together our goal is to become an even stronger cooperative for future generations by combining our talents, staff, and resources.”

Arcadia is a $30 million cooperative with bulk fuels, LP, agronomy, and feed operations. It also has a convenience store and an automotive service center. Allied Cooperative is a $230 million cooperative that serves customers throughout central and western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Allied has six divisions: agronomy, energy, feed, grain, transportation, and retail. They have operations in Adams, Blair, Galesville, Mauston, Melrose, Mindoro, Plainfield, Plover, Tomah, West Salem, Wisconsin Dells, and Wisconsin Rapids.

PotashCorp hints at ICL stock sale

A senior Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. official has hinted that the company is considering the sale of its 14 percent stake in Israel Chemicals Ltd., according to a report on June 10h in the Calcalist economic daily. The report quoted PCS CFO Wayne Brownlee as saying that PCS has no intention of holding to its ICL shares indefinitely.

Brownlee made the statement in a comment on the recommendations of the government appointed committee on tax and royalty payments by companies utilizing Israel’s natural resources. Last month the committee headed by Professor Eitan Sheshinski recommended that a uniform royalty payment of 5 percent on potash, phosphates and other minerals and a “windfall tax” on natural resources. The proposal called for imposing a 42 percent surtax on excess profits would be levied on net profits above an 11 percent return on investment.

The recommendations are expected to cost ICL over $100 million annually once they are implemented. More than a year ago PotashCorp tried to merge with ICL but the move was thwarted due to strong opposition from Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid and from the unions at ICL.

PCS owns a 13.84 percent stake in ICL which has a current value of $1.55 billion. Brownlee was quoted as saying that any sale would not be in the short term and in any case not on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Such a move would likely send ICL’s share price down sharply. He said it would depend on the conditions and whether it created value for PotashCorp investors. ICL shares fell by 1.5 percent in trading on the TASE on the report.