K+S Has `Numerous' Possible Bidders for Compo Division, Finance Chief Says

K+S AG, Europe’s biggest potash producer, has been approached by “numerous parties” interested in acquiring its Compo home-and-garden fertilizer unit, according to Chief Financial Officer Jan Peter Nonnenkamp.

“We can imagine selling Compo if our expectations for the price are met,” Nonnenkamp told investors in a presentation yesterday. Spokesman Michael Wudonig confirmed the comments.

K+S, which hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to advise on the sale, is exiting the Compo retail brand to focus on supplying salt and potash to farmers. The division, which had sales of about 400 million euros ($503 million) last year, may fetch at least 110 million euros, Gunnar Cohrs and Mirco Relling, analysts at Berenberg Bank, said in a note on June 14.

The company, based in Kassel, Germany, has not received any binding offers for Compo yet, and aims to sell the unit by next year, Wudonig said. Compo employs 1,100 people.

Compo’s competitors include Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. The U.S. company doesn’t see any “sizeable” acquisition opportunities at this point in time, Chief Financial Officer Dave Evans said in a presentation on June 29.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net.

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