Shareholders approve big merger

Article Excerpt

AGRIUM INC. $127 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 138.2 million; Market cap: $17.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agrium.com) and rival fertilizer firm POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $23 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 839.6 million; Market cap: $19.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) have each received shareholder approval for their recently announced merger. Under the terms of the deal, Potash Corp. investors will receive 0.40 of a share in the combined company for each POT share they hold; Agrium investors will receive 2.23 shares for each of their AGU shares. Potash Corp. shareholders will then own 52% of the firm, and Agrium investors will own 48%. The new company will pay an annual dividend equal to Agrium’s current payout of $3.50 U.S. a share. That’s a big jump over Potash Corp.’s current dividend of $0.40 U.S. The combined company will have annual…