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Farmland seeks to restructure fertilizer assets, strengthen food business (Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 -- CropChoice news) -- Farmland Industries Inc.
announced today that it seeks to restructure its fertilizer manufacturing
assets through a sale or strategic alliance as part of its bankruptcy
reorganization process. The assets are the primary component of
Farmland's Crop Production division, which had sales of $745 million in
fiscal 2001.
Farmland president and CEO Bob Terry said, "Selling or repositioning our
fertilizer business will allow us to significantly reduce outstanding debt
and reduce or eliminate the cyclical business risk inherent in the fertilizer
industry."
Terry continued, "We believe there is tremendous potential in Farmland
Foods and the Farmland(r) brand. We have elected to place stronger
focus on growing and improving this business."
Farmland owns seven nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facilities, located
in Fort Dodge, Iowa; Coffeyville, Kan.; Dodge City, Kan.; Lawrence,
Kan., Pollock, La., Beatrice, Neb.; and Enid, Okla. Farmland also owns 19
fertilizer distribution terminals throughout the U.S. Farmland's Crop
Production division employs 531 administrative and production workers.
In addition, Farmland is a partner in phosphate manufacturing joint
ventures in Wyoming and Utah, and jointly owns a nitrogen
manufacturing plant in Trinidad and Tobago with Mississippi Chemical
Corp. Farmland continues working with Cargill toward the sale of
Farmland's interest in Farmland Hydro, a phosphate fertilizer operation in
Bartow, Fla. The company will also continue to pursue the sale of
non-core assets and investments, including its petroleum refinery in
Coffeyville, Kan.
"We intend to restructure our fertilizer assets through a sale or strategic
alliance, presuming we can identify an appropriate buyer or partner and
negotiate a fair price," said Terry. "Meanwhile we will continue to operate
the plants, and we expect no disruption of fertilizer supply to our
members."
Terry said the decision was made by Farmland's 21-member Board of
Directors and will be reviewed by the court-appointed committees
overseeing Farmland's reorganization.
Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., is a diversified agricultural
cooperative with interests in food, fertilizer, petroleum, animal feed and
grain businesses.
CONTACT: Sherlyn Manson, Corporate Communications of Farmland
Industries Inc., +1-816-713-6230, Slmanson@farmland.com
Web site: http://www.farmland.com | |
