Kerimov Seeks to Create World's Biggest Potash Producer, Vedomosti Reports
Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who with partners owns a controlling stake in OAO Uralkali, is seeking to add OAO Silvinit and Belaruskali to the holding to create the world’s largest potash producer, Vedomosti said.
Kerimov met with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko on behalf of Uralkali and offered to buy 51% of state-owned Belaruskali for $7.5 billion, Vedomosti said, citing an unidentified person close to an Uralkali shareholder. Belarus denied the meeting, the newspaper said, citing Lukashenko’s spokesman Pavel Legkiy.
Kerimov is also in talks to buy Silvinit shares from board member Petr Kondrashev, Vedomosti said, citing an unidentified person close to Silvinit. The billionaire already owns 25 percent of the Russian potash producer, the newspaper said.
Anton Averin, a spokesman for Kerimov’s Nafta Moskva investment company, declined to comment when called by Bloomberg News. Anton Subbotin, a Silvinit spokesman, and Larissa Belyaeva, an Uralkali spokeswoman, also declined to comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman at sbierman1@bloomberg.net
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