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4 June, 2007
ICEM’s Chemical Workers’ Union affiliate in Finland, Kemianliitto, has taken exception to the recent sale by the Finnish government of its stake in Kemira GrowHow to a Norwegian concern.
In a statement issued immediately following Finland’s 24 May sale of its 30.05% stake in the phosphates and fertiliser company to Oslo-based Yara International ASA, Kemianliitto President Timo Vallittu said the sale sends the wrong kind of investment message concerning Finnish industry.
“With this decision to sell, it is very reasonable to ask why anybody would go on investing in Finnish industry when even the State abandons a holding of its own,” said Valliuto.
The union was not critical of the sale price, or of the buyer, and vowed to hold both the State and Yara to commitments made in the 24 May announcement that jobs in Finland would be retained and production enhanced.
Yara paid €12.12-per-share for the government’s stake in Kemira GrowHow, or €672 million. A Kemira stock market filing said Yara, which was spun off from Norsk Hydro in 2004, will continue business operations in Finland as usual and there would be no effects on personnel. The company would continue phosphate rock mining, phosphoric acid, and other production at Siilinjarvi and Uusikaupunki in Finland, and Yara would seriously consider opening phosphate production at the Sokli mine in Finnish Lapland.
Yara is the world’s largest producer of nitrogen-based fertilisers, while Kemira GrowHow is a leader in feed phosphates with production facilities in eight countries. Under Finland’s Securities Market Act, Yara is now obligated to place tender offers for the remainder of Kemira GrowHow’s shares at €12.12-per-share, a 30% premium over the Finnish’s firm’s 23 May trading price. The merged company will control about 7% of the world’s fertiliser market.