Paris — Total reports that it has received firm offers from Borealis, Vienna, for two of its fertilizer assets – Belgium’s Rosier SA, and France’s largest nitrogen producer, GPN SA. The offers include Total’s entire 56.86 percent interest in Rosier, which is listed on the NYSE Euronext Brussels. Borealis has offered €200 per share for Total’s majority interest. Total, primarily an oil and gas company, sees fertilizer as a non-core asset. In the event Borealis acquires the stake, it will be required to launch a mandatory public takeover bid for the remaining outstanding shares. Rosier is a mineral fertilizer manufacturer with two production facilities, in Moustier, Belgium, and Sas van Gent in the Netherlands. Its products are marketed in more than 80 countries worldwide. The company has 250 employees and revenue of €265 million. Borealis is also offering to buy all outstanding shares of GPN. Borealis’ offer includes clear undertakings to continue operations and maintain jobs at the company’s production facilities and headquarters. GPN, which has 725 employees in France, supplies about 25 percent of the French market, with revenue of €500 million. Its production facilities are located in Grandpuits in the greater Paris region and Grand-Quevilly in Normandy. Grande Paroisse SA, which carries all the liabilities of AZF in Toulouse, is not covered by the planned acquisition. Borealis is already active in nitrogen fertilizers in Central Europe, as well as in France following its acquisition of PEC-Rhin S.A. in early 2012. It says it distributes approximately 2.1 million mt/y of fertilizer. Borealis is a leading provider in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With sales of €7.1 billion in 2011, customers in over 120 countries and around 5,300 employees worldwide, Borealis is owned 64 percent by the International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi and 36 percent by OMV, the leading energy group in the European growth belt.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain