Yara to sell liquid fertiliser business to Incitec for $20 million

Crop nutrition business Yara Australia has announced that it will sell its Yara Nipro liquid fertiliser business to Incitec Pivot Fertilisers.

Subject to ACCC approval, the transaction is expected to be complete later this year. It will include production plants at Moree and Griffith (both in NSW) and Boundary Bend (in Victoria) and distribution and administration operations. 

“IPF is making an investment of circa $20 million,” IPF’s CFO Chris Opperman said in a statement, adding that the acquisition occurs as parent company Incitect Pivot Limited plans to separate IPF into a standalone business.

“The addition of Yara Nipro to IPF is entirely in line with plans to expand the business and seize opportunities that will see it thrive following the proposed separation,” added Jeanne Johns, CEO of ASX-listed Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL.)

The sale follows a business review by Yara Australia that concluded liquid fertiliser “no longer fits with Yara’s growth strategy in Australia.” The company will continue to develop and distribute dry application products.

Fernanda Lopes Larsen, Executive Vice President, Africa & Asia at Yara added that the sale “does not affect the other parts of our business operations in Australia” and that its Pilbara plant “will continue in its operations and focus on our upcoming project in renewable hydrogen.”

As reported by @AuManufacturing in May last year, Yara Pilbara Fertilisers and Engie were awarded $42.5 million through ARENA’s Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round  to support a large-scale green hydrogen project.

The industrial-scale project is being built at Yara’s existing ammonia facility in Karratha, Western Australia.

Grain Central reports that the first phase will include a 10 megawatt electrolyser, on-site photovoltaic panels and battery-storage system, and will produce up to 625 tonnes of renewable hydrogen and 3700 tonnes of green ammonia per year. 

Construction is scheduled for completion in 2023.

Image credit: www.yara.com.au

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