Potash Corp. Has Shot at SQM After ’06 Bid for Control

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has the best chance in seven years of taking over Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA as a stock slump and trading probe threaten to loosen the chairman’s grip on the fertilizer maker.

Chilean regulators accused Julio Ponce, the former son-in-law of dictator Augusto Pinochet, of enriching himself at the expense of other shareholders in the holding companies through which he controls Santiago-based SQM. Ponce, who fended off Potash Corp.’s 2006 attempt to wrest control of SQM, may become a more willing seller as a stock rout and further turmoil in the potash industry pressure his finances, said MBI Inversiones.