OREANDA-NEWS. October 09, 2013. Agrium Inc. (TSX and NYSE: AGU) announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Viterra Inc’s Canadian retail assets.

The total consideration for the retail assets in Canada and Australia is approximately CAD 300-million, which includes estimated net working capital of CAD 300-million.

“Viterra’s assets are an excellent strategic fit for Agrium and we are pleased to have finalized this highly accretive acquisition. Much of the success of this acquisition can be attributed to our integrated strategy. It gave us first access to the opportunity, allowed us to optimize the value of specific divested assets and to maximize potential synergies”, commented Mike Wilson, President and CEO of Agrium. “I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new employees and customers. We look forward to building on Viterra’s impressive track record to continue bringing improved technology, products and service to growers in western Canada.”

We expect the annual EBITDA contribution from Viterra’s retail assets, net of divestitures, to be in the range of CAD 75-million to CAD 90-million, excluding synergies and integration costs. Integration of the businesses will commence immediately. We expect to achieve synergies of between CAD 15-million to CAD 20-million by the end of 2015, with most of this being realized in the second year. Additional financial details will be made available in the coming months after final purchase price adjustments have been finalized.