Overview

The Anti-monopoly Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has approved the merger of Uralkali with Silvinit, subject to conditions. It was the last regulatory hurdle that Uralkali had to overcome in order to create the world's second largest potassium chloride supplier. As China is heavily dependent on potassium chloride imports which play a key role in its domestic food production, the behavioural remedies imposed by MOFCOM clearly show the concern of the Chinese government to maintain a stable supply and pricing of this essential fertiliser after the merger. This decision is the 7th conditional clearance since the introduction of the new merger control regime in China in August 2008. All conditional clearances that have been issued so far have been in the context of off-shore acquisitions. In addition to China, the transaction required the authorisation from competition authorities in Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and Poland which all cleared the transaction