[2010.2.18]Mergers in the fertiliser industry 化肥行业并购- 商业 ...企业库|免费b2b网站

[2010.2.18]Mergers in the fertiliser industry 化肥行业并购- 商业 ...

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本帖{zh1}由 lilywizardry 于 2010-2-24 12:50 编辑

Mergers in the fertiliser industry
化肥行业并购

A growth business
一个成长性行业

Feeding the world has become a mouth-watering opportunity
现在，喂饱世界成了让人垂涎三尺的机遇

Feb 18th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

Corbis

Potash makes the world grow round
钾肥让世界长胖

FOR thousands of years farmers would try to ensure a decent harvest with exhortations to various deities. The weather may still be in the lap of the gods but the fecundity of the soil can now be improved by more down-to-earth means. The run-up in the price of fertiliser, which reached a peak along with most agricultural commodities in 2008, gave a taste of the money to be made by feeding the world. A recent flurry of takeovers suggests that fertiliser companies see the subsequent drop in prices as a buying opportunity before the next ascent begins.

千百年来，农民为保丰年都会向天神祈福。虽说现在天气仍有天神掌管，可是土地的肥沃程度却能通过一些实际的方式加以提高。2008年，化肥价格和大多数农产品价格一样，都达到了一个峰值，化肥价格的攀升也让那些投资于化肥行业的资本大显身手。最近一系列的并购说明，化肥公司把随后的化肥价格的回落视为在下一次价格攀升前一个很不错的买入机会。

The biggest deal so far this year was unveiled on February 15th. Yara, a Norwegian fertiliser-maker, agreed to pay $4.1 billion for Terra, an American company. The deal will extend Yara’s lead as the world’s biggest maker of nitrogen-based fertiliser. Vale, a huge Brazilian mining company, has put up $4.8 billion for two recent purchases. These will boost its phosphate- and potash-based fertiliser businesses, which serve Brazil’s vast and growing agricultural sector.

今年至今为止{zd0}的一笔交易于2月15日揭开了帷幕。挪威化肥制造商亚拉公司同意支付41亿美元并购美国特拉公司。此项交易将进一步扩大亚拉公司作为全球{zd0}氮肥制造商的{lx1}地位。巴西{zd0}矿业集团淡水河谷公司已为最近的两次收购支付了48亿。这两次收购将进一步加大其磷肥和钾肥的产能。磷肥、钾肥制造业也是巴西{zd0}的、处于不断扩张中的农业领域。

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, has also added bulk to its potash operations. In January it paid $320m for Athabasca Potash, a Canadian business situated near a mine it owns in Saskatchewan. In a decade the combined sites could churn out 8m tonnes of potash annually, twice the output of the world’s largest mine and equivalent to a just under a sixth of global consumption. Such is the allure of potash that rumours last year suggested that Vale or BHP might bid for a big global fertiliser company such as America’s Mosaic or PCS of Canada.

全球{zd0}矿业公司必和必拓公司也对其较大的钾肥业务加大了投资。今年1月，该公司收购了一家位于加拿大萨斯喀彻温省它所属矿井附近的加拿大企业，沙斯卡川钾肥公司。在未来十年，该公司每年将制造出八百万吨钾肥，这是全球{zd0}矿井产出量的两倍，与全球第六大化肥消费国的用量相差无几。钾肥的诱惑如此之大，去年甚至有传闻称，淡水河谷和必和必拓可能竞标收购全球{zd0}的化肥公司诸如美国的美盛公司和加拿大钾肥公司（PCS）。

The explanation for all this is undoubtedly the open maw and changing dietary habits of the world’s fast-expanding population. It is expected to grow by around a third by 2050 to over 9 billion people, who will all need to be fed. Moreover, as people grow more prosperous they eat more meat, which will require even more crops to provide feed for livestock.

这一切的成因无疑是源于世界快速增长的人口张开的血盆大口以及他们不断变化的饮食习惯。到2050年，世界人口有望增长三分之一，达到90亿，这些人都需要粮食。而且，随着人们富裕程度的不断增长，他们消耗的肉也会越来越多。这就需要更多的庄稼为牲口提供食物。

China’s demand for fertiliser is expected to be particularly buoyant as a result of its huge population and the poor quality of its arable land. China is largely self-sufficient in nitrogen fertilisers. But the country is already a big importer of phosphates and especially potash. It consumes around a quarter of the 50m tonnes of potash produced in the world each year. By some estimates China alone might use 26m tonnes a year within a decade and a half.

由于中国的巨量人口及其贫瘠的可耕地，中国的化肥需求有望看涨。中国在氮肥方面基本是自给自足。但在磷肥、尤其是钾肥方面，中国已经成为一个进口大国。其每年所消耗的钾肥占全球五千万吨钾肥产量的四分之一。按照一些估计，不到十五年时间，中国一国的消耗将达到每年两千六百万吨。

There are other factors at work besides the world’s population pressures. The prices of fertilisers are recovering more slowly than those of other commodities, making fertiliser companies relatively cheap. That is especially true if the buyer is a mining firm, earning near-record prices once more for its ore. Big mining companies are also interested in phosphates and potash because they are generally extracted from the sort of huge mines that are their bread and butter.

除了全球人口压力外，还有其它一些影响因素。化肥价格的恢复比起其它产品要慢得多，这使得化肥公司相对便宜。如果收购方是一家因出售矿石收入一度接近历史{zg}价格的矿业公司，那价格更是如此。大型矿业公司对磷肥和钾肥感兴趣的另一原因是这些物质一般可以从他们的巨矿中提取出来。这些巨矿本就是他们的谋生之道。

The Yara deal is partly a response to lower prices for natural gas in America. Energy accounts for about three-quarters of the cost of producing nitrogen fertilisers, so cheaper gas and proximity to America’s many farmers make Terra an attractive buy. The gods, it seems, are smiling on the fertiliser-makers.

亚拉收购一案部分原因在于美国天然气价格相对较低。能源在氮肥生产成本中占了大约四分之三，所以便宜的天然气、对美国众多农户的地理优势也使作为购买对象的特拉公司极具诱惑力。对于化肥生产商的这些举动，这次天神似乎颇为赞许。

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