Merger of crop-nutrient firms Agrium, Potash finalized

The merger of equals between Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. forming Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE: NTR) was completed Tuesday.

The merger was valued at $36 billion and involves about 20,000 employees.

Agrium, based in Calgary, Alberta, has operations worldwide, including Loveland, Greeley and Denver. How the merger will affect operations in Northern Colorado has not been divulged.

Agrium had been expanding its operations in the region. The company broke ground in July last year on a four-story, 120,000-square-foot office building in Loveland to serve as a home to the company’s U.S. corporate and wholesale office employees.

In June 2017, Agrium opened a new research facility  in Greeley, where it also operates a production facility. The new 18,000-square-foot facility — The Agrium Wholesale Lab and Pilot Plant in the West Greeley Tech Center — is used for researching and testing new fertilizer products.

The new company has operations and investments in 14 countries — providing products and services that help growers optimize crop yields and their returns.

“Today we are proud to launch Nutrien, a company that will forge a unique position within the agriculture industry,” said Chuck Magro, former president and chief executive of Agrium, who now heads Nutrien. “Our company will have an unmatched capability to respond to customer and market opportunities, focusing on innovation and growth across our retail and crop nutrient businesses. Importantly, we intend to draw upon the depth of our combined talent and best practices to build a new company that is stronger and better equipped to create value for all our stakeholders.”

Nutrien common shares will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NTR.

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