CF Industries to Return At Least $1 Billion of Cash to Stockholders
Following the Merger
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF) today announced that its board
of directors is prepared to increase CF Industries’ offer for a business
combination with Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA) to a fixed exchange
ratio of 0.465 shares of CF Industries for each Terra common share. The
proposal represents a premium of 35% over the exchange ratio on January
15, 2009, just prior to when the initial offer was made, and a 38%
premium to the average exchange ratio over the one-year period prior to
that offer.
The CF Industries board of directors also is prepared to return at least
$1 billion of cash to stockholders of the combined company following the
closing of the transaction, which likely would be accomplished through
open market purchases or a self-tender offer. In addition, immediately
prior to the consummation of the combination the Company would
distribute an aggregate of five million contingent future shares to CF
Industries stockholders. These contingent shares would be converted into
CF Industries common stock should the stock trade at more than $115 per
share over a specified period following the close.
“We continue to believe firmly that a business combination with Terra is
the best way to create stockholder value and is in the best interests of
both CF Industries and Terra stockholders,” said Stephen R. Wilson,
chairman, president and chief executive officer of CF Industries. “We
believe that the return of cash will be extremely attractive to both
sets of stockholders. The issuance of contingent shares provides an
opportunity for existing CF Industries stockholders to benefit from
upside performance in our stock. Once the premerger waiting period for
the Terra transaction expires this evening under the Hart-Scott-Rodino
Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, we will be in a position to close
promptly following signing of a merger agreement.”
CF Industries has had regular contact with Terra stockholders since
making its initial proposal for a business combination in January. Based
on these conversations, the company believes that the enhanced exchange
ratio, the preservation of the all-stock transaction, and the addition
of a cash component would be compelling to Terra stockholders.
CF Industries continues to expect the combination to generate $105 to
$135 million in annual cost synergies by combining corporate functions
and optimizing transportation and distribution systems, and through
greater economies of scale in procurement and purchasing.
CF Industries also announced today that it has extended the expiration
date of its exchange offer for all of the outstanding shares of Terra
common stock until 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, Friday, August 21, 2009,
unless further extended. The offer had been scheduled to expire at 5:00
p.m., Eastern time, on Friday, August 7, 2009. All other terms and
conditions of the exchange offer remain unchanged. As of the close of
business on August 4, 2009, a total of 9,144,017 shares of Terra common
stock had been tendered into the exchange offer.
The following letter was sent to the Terra Board of Directors:
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August 5, 2009
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Board of Directors
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Terra Industries Inc.
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Terra Centre
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600 Fourth Street
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P.O. Box 6000
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Sioux City, Iowa 51102-6000
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Attention:
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Henry R. Slack, Chairman of the Board
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Michael L. Bennett, President and Chief Executive Officer
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Dear Members of the Board:
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Last week CF Industries announced very strong results for the second
quarter, once again demonstrating the strength of our company and our
business model. We expect that today we will have satisfied the
regulatory conditions with respect to our proposed business combination
with Terra Industries and will be in a position to close a transaction
promptly. To that end, we are prepared to enter into a merger agreement
under which each Terra share would be exchanged for 0.465 of a share of
CF Industries. That exchange ratio represents a premium of 35% over the
exchange ratio on January 15, 2009, just prior to when we made our
initial offer, and it reflects a premium of 38% over the average
exchange ratio for the year prior to that offer.
We also are prepared, following closing of the merger, to return at
least $1 billion of cash to the stockholders of the combined company,
which likely would be accomplished through open market purchases or a
self-tender. Given the significant increase in our offer, as well as our
confidence in the future trading value of our stock, immediately before
the merger we would distribute to CF Industries stockholders Contingent
Future Shares (“CFs”), as described in the attached term sheet. The CFs
would provide the holders with an opportunity to receive an aggregate of
5 million CF Industries shares should CF Industries shares trade at over
$115 per share during a specified period after the closing of the merger.
Through this business combination your stockholders will share in the
future upside of the combined company, including $105-135 million of
annual operating synergies. As we have said, we would welcome having a
number of your directors on the board of the combined company. We look
forward to Mike Bennett being one of those directors and having him
continue to serve in a senior executive capacity, working closely with
me to manage the combined company. Also, we would consider locating some
functions of the combined company in the Sioux City area, while
preserving the synergies in the transaction.
We are enthusiastic about combining our two companies and look forward
to a favorable response.
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Sincerely,
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Stephen R. Wilson
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Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
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CF Industries Holdings, Inc.
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Contingent Future Shares (“CFs”)
Summary of Terms
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5 million Contingent Future Shares (“CFs”) of CF Industries would be
distributed to the stockholders of CF Industries prior to the merger
with Terra Industries (the “Merger”)
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If, during the Measuring Period (defined below), the average CF
closing share price exceeds $115 for any five (5) trading days within
any twenty (20) trading day period, the CFs would automatically
convert into shares
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The Measuring Period is a period starting six (6) months after the
Merger and ending twenty-four (24) months after the Merger
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The CFs would be publicly traded
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The CFs are not expected to be taxable on receipt or upon conversion.
The CFs would be taxable upon sale of the CFs (or the underlying
shares following conversion)
Morgan Stanley and Rothschild are acting as financial advisors and
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal counsel to
CF Industries.
Analyst/Investor Conference Call/Webcast
CF Industries will be hosting a conference call with analysts and
investors at 10:00am ET / 9:00am CT on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. The
conference call can be accessed by dialing 1 (888) 680-0892 (U.S.
dial-in) or 1 (617) 213-4858 (International dial-in), conference code
74185078. Accompanying slides will be available on the CF Industries
website at www.cfindustries.com.
The company will also webcast the call to all interested parties on its
website. Please see www.cfindustries.com
for details on how to access the webcast.
A replay of the conference call will be available from 1:00pm ET /
12:00pm CT on August 5, 2009 and can be accessed in the U.S. by dialing
1 (888) 286-8010, conference code 89443180. International callers can
access the replay by dialing 1 (617) 801-6888, conference code 89443180.
The webcast will also be archived on the CF Industries website, www.cfindustries.com.
Additional information for Investors, Employees, Customers and the
Agribusiness Community is available at www.transactioninfo.com/cfindustries
or www.cfindustries.com.
About CF Industries
CF Industries Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, is
the holding company for the operations of CF Industries, Inc. CF
Industries, Inc. is a major producer and distributor of nitrogen and
phosphate fertilizer products. CF Industries operates world-scale
nitrogen fertilizer plants in Donaldsonville, Louisiana and Medicine
Hat, Alberta, Canada; conducts phosphate mining and manufacturing
operations in Central Florida; and distributes fertilizer products
through a system of terminals, warehouses, and associated transportation
equipment located primarily in the Midwestern United States. The company
also owns a 50 percent interest in KEYTRADE AG, a global fertilizer
trading organization headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland. Additional
information on CF Industries is found on the company's website at www.cfindustries.com.
Additional Information
This press release relates to the offer (the “Offer”) by CF Industries
Holdings, Inc. (“CF Industries”) through its direct wholly-owned
subsidiary, Composite Acquisition Corporation (“Composite Acquisition”),
to exchange each issued and outstanding share of common stock (the
“Terra common stock”) of Terra Industries Inc. (“Terra”) for 0.4235
shares of CF Industries common stock. This press release is for
informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to
exchange, or a solicitation of an offer to exchange, Terra common stock,
nor is it a substitute for the Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO or
the preliminary Prospectus/Offer to Exchange included in the
Registration Statement on Form S-4 (Reg. No. 333-157462) (including the
Letter of Transmittal and related documents and as amended from time to
time, the “Exchange Offer Documents”) previously filed by CF Industries
and Composite Acquisition with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the “SEC”). The Registration Statement has not yet become effective.
The Offer is made only through the Exchange Offer Documents. INVESTORS
AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THESE DOCUMENTS AND OTHER
RELEVANT MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN
IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor the solicitation
of an offer to sell any securities. CF Industries previously filed a
Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 (as amended, the
“Solicitation/Recommendation Statement”) with the SEC with respect to
the exchange offer commenced by Agrium Inc. INVESTORS AND SECURITY
HOLDERS OF CF INDUSTRIES ARE URGED TO READ THE
SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS AS
THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
In connection with the solicitation of proxies for the 2009 annual
meeting of stockholders of Terra, CF Industries and its wholly-owned
subsidiary CF Composite, Inc. (“CF Composite”) filed a revised
preliminary proxy statement with the SEC on April 7, 2009 and intend to
file a definitive proxy statement. When completed, the definitive proxy
statement of CF Industries and CF Composite and accompanying proxy card
will be mailed to stockholders of Terra. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS
OF TERRA ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT
MATERIALS CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE
THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of any
documents filed by CF Industries with the SEC through the web site
maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
Free copies of any such documents can also be obtained by calling
Innisfree M&A Incorporated toll-free at (877) 456-3507.
CF Industries, CF Composite, their respective directors and executive
officers and the individuals nominated by CF Composite for election to
Terra’s board of directors are participants in the solicitation of
proxies from Terra stockholders for Terra’s 2009 annual meeting of
stockholders. Information regarding such participants and a description
of their direct and indirect interests in such solicitation, by
securities holdings or otherwise, is contained in the revised
preliminary proxy statement filed by CF Industries with the SEC on April
7, 2009. CF Industries and its directors and executive officers will be
participants in any solicitation of proxies from Terra stockholders or
CF Industries stockholders in respect of the proposed transaction with
Terra. Information regarding CF Industries’ directors and executive
officers is available in the supplement to its proxy statement for its
2009 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on
April 7, 2009, and a description of their direct and indirect interests
in such solicitation, by security holdings or otherwise, will be
contained in the proxy statement/prospectus filed in connection with the
proposed transaction with Terra.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute
“forward-looking statements.” All statements in this press release,
other than those relating to historical information or current
condition, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of
which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from such statements. Risks and uncertainties relating to the
proposed transaction include: Terra’s failure to accept CF Industries’
proposal and enter into definitive agreements to effect the transaction;
our ability to obtain shareholder, antitrust, regulatory and other
approvals on the proposed terms and schedule; uncertainty of the
expected financial performance of CF Industries following completion of
the proposed transaction; CF Industries’ ability to achieve the
cost-savings and synergies contemplated by the proposed transaction
within the expected time frame; CF Industries’ ability to promptly and
effectively integrate the businesses of Terra and CF Industries; and
disruption from the proposed transaction making it more difficult to
maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers.
Additional risks and uncertainties include: the relatively expensive and
volatile cost of North American natural gas; the cyclical nature of our
business and the agricultural sector; changes in global fertilizer
supply and demand and its impact on the selling price of our products;
the nature of our products as global commodities; intense global
competition in the consolidating markets in which we operate; conditions
in the U.S. agricultural industry; weather conditions; our inability to
accurately predict seasonal demand for our products; the concentration
of our sales with certain large customers; the impact of changing market
conditions on our forward pricing program; the reliance of our
operations on a limited number of key facilities; the significant risks
and hazards against which we may not be fully insured; reliance on third
party transportation providers; unanticipated adverse consequences
related to the expansion of our business; our inability to expand our
business, including the significant resources that could be required;
potential liabilities and expenditures related to environmental and
health and safety laws and regulations; our inability to obtain or
maintain required permits and governmental approvals or to meet
financial assurance requirements; acts of terrorism; difficulties in
securing the supply and delivery of raw materials we use and increases
in their costs; losses on our investments in securities; loss of key
members of management and professional staff; recent global market and
economic conditions, including credit markets; and the other risks and
uncertainties included from time to time in our filings with the SEC.
Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statements.
CF Industries Investor Relations
847-405-2507
or
Brunswick
Group LLC
Susan Stillings / Monika Driscoll, 212-333-3810
or
Innisfree
M&A Incorporated
Alan Miller, 212-750-5833