Stirol Eyeing Odesa Portside Fertilizer Plant

In an interview yesterday, Stirol’s (STIR: SELL) CEO Nikolay  Yankovskiy said his company would be interested in purchasing a minority stake in the Odesa Portside Fertilizer Plant. The State Property Fund (SPF) has included Odesa Portside on its list of companies to be privatized in 2007 and has said it intends to sell 10% of the company on a local exchange and place another 34% abroad. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee ok’d the purchase of a 50+ percent stake in the nitrogen fertilizer producer Stirol by the Netherlands’ Dotterbloem Holding B.V., which according to Yankovskiy, is part of the Stirol’s plans to hold an IPO on an international exchange. Vladimir Nesterenko: Stirol has already thought about purchasing a major stake in Odesa Portside to lower its ammonia transshipment cost. If the 10% sale is approved by the Cabinet, the stake would cost Stirol not more than USD 40-45 mln, provided Odesa Portside continues operating ammonia transshipment capacities.