AgroPages-Nutrien announces agreement to purchase Agrichem-Agricultural news

Nutrien Ltd. (Nutrien) recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Agrichem, a leading specialty plant nutrition and plant health product company in Brazil. Agrichem is one of Brazil's largest liquid NPK fertilizer companies, as well as a producer and marketer of plant health products, including bio-stimulants and health inductors. The company has 195 employees and 35 product registrations actively marketed and a strong platform for future growth. The primary production facility is located close to key agricultural markets in Brazil, with an annual production capacity of almost 12 million litres.

"As a leader in Brazilian specialty nutrient markets, the Agrichem team and extensive product profile will be an excellent fit with our Loveland products business," commented Chuck Magro, Nutrien's President and CEO. "Brazil will be a strategic focus for further expansion due to its large and growing agriculture retail and crop input market," added Mr. Magro.

Agrichem is expected to be accretive to earnings in 2018, with total annual historic net sales of over $55 million and historic EBITDA of over $15 million. The acquisition will be made in two tranches, with 80 percent of the business to be acquired in the coming months. The remaining 20 percent of the business will be acquired in 2019, based on 2018 EBITDA levels. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and satisfaction of customary conditions precedent.

As part of this acquisition, Nutrien expects to capture synergies through the distribution of a variety of Nutrien's existing crop input products and services in Brazil. This includes our Loveland Products proprietary technologies and potential for leveraging our respective digital agriculture technologies.