PotashCorp & Agrium merge

PotashCorp. and Agrium have agreed to merge in a deal that would create a global agricultural giant worth an estimated $36 billion U.S.

The deal would bring together Saskatoon-based PotashCorp’s huge fertilizer mining operations with Calgary-based Agrium’s extensive global direct-to-farmer retail network. Both companies say the new firm would have close to 20 000 employees, with operations in 18 countries.

News of the deal comes as the fertilizer industry struggles with a steep drop in prices in recent years following a ramp-up of production and the breakup of a Russia-Belarus Potash trading cartel in 2013.