Published:
Terra Industries Board of Directors Rejects CF Industries' Latest Proposal
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA) ("Terra" ) today announced that its
Board of Directors, with the advice of its financial and legal advisors,
has carefully reviewed CF Industries Holdings, Inc.'s (NYSE: CF) latest
proposal to acquire Terra for the equivalent of $24.50 in cash (which
equals the net value of CF's announced offer of $32.00 that will be
reduced by Terra's previously declared $7.50 per share special cash
dividend) and 0.1034 of a share of CF common stock, and unanimously
rejected it as inadequate, opportunistic and not in the best interests
of Terra and its shareholders.
In rejecting CF's latest proposal, the Board considered a number of
factors, including the following:
-
CF's proposal significantly undervalues Terra's near term and long
term prospects, as illustrated by the following:
-
CF's November 2, 2009 presentation justifies its inadequate
proposal using a 2010 EBITDA estimate for Terra of $525 million,
which is in fact significantly less than Terra's projection of
approximately $694 million.
-
Using CF's own proposed multiple of 6.7x1 Terra's
projected 2010 EBITDA would indicate an enterprise value of $4.65
billion. Applying CF's own adjustments, this would imply an equity
value of $51.55 per share for Terra.
-
Alternatively, using CF's mean NTM EBITDA industry acquisition
multiple of 7.6x2 would imply an enterprise value of
approximately $5.27 billion for Terra, which equates to $57.74 per
share, a price which would still be substantially accretive to CF.
-
Terra's excellent near term outlook, particularly the strong
fundamentals for nitrogen demand in the U.S. agricultural business in
the coming growing season and moderate natural gas costs.
-
Terra's projected operating improvements in 2010, specifically revenue
growth of more than 25% over 2009 and robust operating margins, which
would result in EBITDA of $694 million for the year.
-
Terra's expansion of the UAN capacity at its Woodward facility,
recognizing that UAN has been among the fastest growing nitrogen
products in the United States.
-
Significant upside in Terra's Environmental Technologies business,
which Terra expects to generate $400-500 million in DEF revenues by
2015.
-
Terra's ability to continue to make strategic and opportunistic
acquisitions that build shareholder value, such as Terra's pending
acquisition of a 50% interest in Agrium Inc.'s (NYSE: AGU) Carseland
nitrogen manufacturing facility and its acquisition of Mississippi
Chemical Corporation.
-
Terra's track record of delivering value to its shareholders in the
form of stock buybacks and dividends, which have amounted to over $1.0
billion over the last four years, including the $750 million to be
paid to all Terra shareholders in December as a $7.50 per share
special dividend ($1.00-$1.50 of which is estimated as a tax-free
return of capital).
"CF's latest proposal fails to appropriately value Terra's world class
assets, strategic advantages and prospects," said Terra President and
CEO Michael Bennett. "Terra is a preeminent pure play nitrogen company,
and through the continued execution of our strategy is well positioned
to take advantage of an upsurge in demand from our agricultural and
industrial customer base as the economic recovery continues."
"Terra's Board has a proven record of building Terra's market position
and delivering shareholder value," said Henry R. Slack, Chairman of the
Board of Terra. "Terra's Board and management team always have and will
continue to remain open to considering any bona fide opportunity to
create meaningful value for Terra shareholders."
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is serving as Terra's financial
advisor, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen &
Katz are serving as legal counsel to Terra. MacKenzie Partners, Inc. is
serving as proxy solicitor for Terra.
About Terra
Terra Industries Inc., with 2008 revenues of $2.9 billion, is a leading
North American producer and marketer of nitrogen products.
Important Information and Where to Find It
On October 13, 2009, Terra filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC" ) a definitive proxy statement in connection with
its 2009 Annual Meeting, and is mailing the definitive proxy statement
to its shareholders. Investors and security holders are urged to read
the definitive proxy statement relating to the 2009 Annual Meeting and
any other relevant documents filed with the SEC (when available),
because they contain important information. Investors and security
holders may obtain a free copy of the definitive proxy statement and
other documents that Terra files with the SEC (when available) at the
SEC's Web site at www.sec.gov
and Terra's Web site at www.terraindustries.com.
In addition, the definitive proxy statement and other documents filed by
Terra with the SEC (when available) may be obtained from Terra free of
charge by directing a request to Terra Industries Inc., Attn: Investor
Relations, Terra Industries Inc., 600 Fourth Street, P.O. Box 6000,
Sioux City, IA 51102-6000.
Certain Information Concerning Participants
Terra, its directors, executive officers and certain employees specified
in Annex A to Terra's definitive proxy statement for the 2009 Annual
Meeting, which was filed with the SEC on October 13, 2009, are
participants in the solicitation of Terra's security holders in
connection with its 2009 Annual Meeting. Security holders may obtain
information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of such
individuals in Terra's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2008, which was filed with the SEC on February 27, 2009 and
amended on April 28, 2009, and its definitive proxy statement for the
2009 Annual Meeting. To the extent holdings of Terra securities have
changed since the amounts printed in the definitive proxy statement for
the 2009 Annual Meeting, such changes have been or will be reflected on
Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. These
documents (when available) may be obtained free of charge from the SEC's
Web site at www.sec.gov
and Terra's Web site at www.terraindustries.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this communication may constitute
"forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are
based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be
accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is
expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. As a
result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made and
Terra undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Words
such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes,"
"estimates," and similar expressions are used to identify these
forward-looking statements. In particular, statements about Terra's
projected financial performance and Terra's plans or intentions
regarding the completion of the Carseland acquisition and the benefits
to Terra from such acquisition are forward-looking statements and may
not necessarily occur. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that
are difficult to predict. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions
include, among others:
-
the risk that the closing of the Carseland acquisition, which is
conditioned on the completion of Agrium's unsolicited bid for CF, may
not occur,
-
risks related to potential acquisition transactions,
-
changes in financial and capital markets,
-
general economic conditions within the agricultural industry,
-
competitive factors and price changes (principally, sales prices of
nitrogen and methanol products and natural gas costs),
-
changes in product mix,
-
changes in the seasonality of demand patterns,
-
changes in weather conditions,
-
changes in environmental and other government regulation,
-
changes in agricultural regulations and
-
changes in the securities trading markets.
Additional information as to these factors can be found in Terra's 2008
Annual Report/10-K and in Terra's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, in each case in the sections entitled "Business," "Risk Factors,"
"Legal Proceedings," and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations," and in the Notes to the
consolidated financial statements.
This communication includes projected financial performance information
from Terra's 2010 financial plan. These projections are necessarily
based upon a variety of estimates and assumptions which, through
currently considered reasonable by Terra, may not be realized and are
inherently subject, in addition to the specific risks identified above,
to business, economic, competitive, industry, regulatory, market and
financial uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond
Terra's control. There can be no assurance that the assumptions made in
preparing the projected financial performance information will prove
accurate. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from the
results projected.
Note: Terra Industries' news announcements are also available
on its Web site, www.terraindustries.com.
1 See CF Form 425 filed November 2, 2009 (page 5).
2 CF has noted appropriate precedent transaction multiples
for completed transactions of 8.2x (median) and 7.6x (mean). See CF Form
425 filed November 2, 2009 (page 6).
Terra Industries Inc.
Joe A. Ewing, 712-277-7305
Vice
President, Investor Relations
jewing@terraindustries.com
or
Joele
Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Matthew Sherman/Jamie Moser,
212-355-4449
msherman@joelefrank.com/jmoser@joelefrank.com
or
MacKenzie
Partners, Inc.
Larry Dennedy/Laurie Connell, 800-322-2885
terraproxy@mackenziepartners.com
Copyright © 2009, Business Wire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
Daily News
Tags: Business wire, iowa, manufacturing, Agriculture, Medical, Consulting, Accounting and other Professional Services, Banking and Finance