Canadian fertilizer company Agrium Inc will not split its wholesale and retail divisions as its biggest shareholder, Jana Partners, wants because doing so would "destroy value" for shareholders, Chief Executive Mike Wilson said on Monday.Wilson was speaking in New York to Agrium's sell-side analysts in an attempt to blunt Jana's move to replace some of Agrium's board and effect changes that Jana says would increase returns to investors. In his remarks, Wilson ruled out a break-up of the company, and released a sharply higher earnings forecast for the fast-growing retail division, which sells seed, fertilizer and chemicals to farmers.Wilson said Jana preferred to talk to Agrium's shareholders and analysts rather than to the company itself, although Agrium and Jana had reached an understanding last spring that they would keep their talks on improving the company private."They'll say one thing and do the opposite ... They're good at breaking up companies," Wilson said. "They're very good at saying, 'Why not just engage some ideas?' The answer is, if we do, we'll destroy value for our company, and we're not about to do that."
Agrium Inc. (Agrium), is a global producer and marketer of nutrients for agricultural and industrial markets. Shares of AGU fell by 0.72% or $-0.83/share to $113.80. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $74.28 and as high as $115.08. On average, 771053 shares of AGU exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 407409.
Agrium Inc. (Agrium), is a global producer and marketer of nutrients for agricultural and industrial markets. Shares of AGU fell by 0.73% or $-0.84/share to $114.52. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $77.50 and as high as $115.44. On average, 538770 shares of AGU.TO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 303520.
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