LAKELAND -- The proposed merger of IMC Global Inc. and Cargill Crop Nutrition cleared its last major hurdle Tuesday with approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The new company, to be called The Mosaic Co., will become a reality by early or middle October, said Doug Hoadley, an IMC economist and company spokesman.
The Canadian Competition Bureau is expected to approve the merger shortly, Hoadley said. It was withholding its decision until the Justice Department acted.
IMC's potash mining and fertilizer production facilities are located in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The only other regulatory hurdle is approval of Mosaic's prospectus by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a technicality, Hoadley said. That's also expected very soon.
IMC stockholders must wait at least 30 days following SEC approval to vote on approving the merger, he said. Stockholders of record at the close of business Sept. 3 will be eligible to vote.
The deal can close as early as the next day following the stockholder vote, Hoadley said.
IMC stock rose 84 cents by early Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the announcement of Justice Department approval.
"I think the stockholders are already voting," Hoadley said. "I think that's a clear indication of how the stockholders feel about the merger."
IMC stock finished at $15.94, up $1.06 (7 percent), at the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Volume was nearly 3.9 million shares, or nearly five times the average over the past three months.
Cargill Crop Nutrition is a subsidiary of Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis, the world's largest private company. It has a Polk work force of 1,060 people, one of the county's top 15 private employers. It operates three mines in the Fort Meade area and two fertilizer plants in Bartow.
Its board of directors already voted to approve the merger. No further action is necessary.
Cargill and IMC officials would not discuss how the merger will affect workers at both companies.
"We don't intend right now to close any plants or mines," said Hoadley, who declined further comment on that issue.
Gray Gordon, a vice president at Cargill Crop Nutrition, indicated some jobs could be lost as the companies combine work forces.
"I don't see the facilities changing, but the number of people will probably change," Gordon said. "We will keep the production levels the same."
Cargill and IMC officials were allowed to plan for the transition pending regulatory approval.
IMC Phosphates Co., the parent company's phosphate fertilizer subsidiary, is Polk County's sixth largest private employer with about 2,000 workers at the Four Corners, Fort Green and Kingsford mines and the New Wales and South Pierce chemical fertilizer plants.
IMC Phosphates also operates a small phosphate mine at Hopewell in southeast Hillsborough County, phosphate plants in Louisiana and a potash fertilizer facility in New Mexico.
Mosaic will be based in Minneapolis, which means IMC headquarters in Lake Forest, Ill., a Chicago suburb, will be closed, he said.
Hoadley declined to comment on the future for the Mulberry headquarters of IMC Phosphates. Cargill Crop Nutrition is based in Riverside, a Tampa suburb.
The Justice Department approval culminates a seven-month effort to merge IMC Global, one of the world's largest fertilizer manufacturers, with Cargill's phosphate fertilizer subsidiary.
Mosaic will be a public company with Cargill holding 66.5 percent of its stock, or more than 5.5 million shares. IMC stockholders will get a 33.5 percent share in the new company.
The merger faces one legal problem. Some minority shareholders of Phosphate Resource Partners Limited Partnership have sued IMC Global over its plan to merge the two entities as a prelude to the Cargill merger.
IMC controls a majority interest in the partnership, which owns a share of IMC Phosphates.
But Gordon said he has spoken with Cargill's lawyers, who do not expect the lawsuit to delay the Cargill-IMC merger.
The merger is also subject to a post-closing review by the Brazilian government.The Ledger/Kevin Bouffard
