EuroChem acquires phosphate project in Brazil from Yara for $410 mln
MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - EuroChem Group has signed an agreement with Norway's Yara to acquire the Serra do Salitre phosphate project in Brazil for $410 million, the Russian fertilizer company reported.
The project in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil comprises an open pit phosphate mine with more than 350 million tonnes of reserves and and a manufacturing plant with capacity to produce 1 million tonnes of fertilizer per year that is due to come on stream in 2023.
The project is 50% complete, and the mine and beneficiation plant are already operating, producing around 500,000-600,000 tonnes of phosphate rock and generating positive EBITDA from third-party concentrate sales.
Yara estimated that the price of the deal is comparable to the capital expenditures needed to complete the project.
The acquisition will increase EuroChem's annual phosphate and complex product output by 20% to 6 million tonnes per year.
EuroChem, one of the world's largest mineral fertilizer producers, is controlled by Andrei Melnichenko.