Potash Corp & Agrium in Merger Talks

[The Bess]

Closing a mine in Saskatchewan will not increase the price when you have other players in the world and new mines opening in Sask ie: legacy. PCS has already closed new min in NB and that resulted in nothing to prices. Take a page from oil and gas with there price. The only way it goes up is if everyone plays along.

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by The Bess

Closing a mine in Saskatchewan will not increase the price when you have other players in the world and new mines opening in Sask ie: legacy. PCS has already closed new min in NB and that resulted in nothing to prices. Take a page from oil and gas with there price. The only way it goes up is if everyone plays along.

PCS did reduce capacity to prop prices in the 80s when they mothballed a mill at Lanigan but that was a time when there was a bit more discipline in the market and the Russian/Belorussian production was primarily for domestic use and not the export market.

Now that there is no discipline with the Russian cartel falling apart and BHP is on the horizon it would be a risky move to curtail production for everyone elses benefit. Legacy will likely offsett production declines at the german K+S mines.

[kenskca]

The Viterra Head Office I believe is still listed as Regina.

After the dust settled from the merger with Glencore I believe the Regina head office is a shell of its former self as functions that used to be there have moved.

They used to have all kinds of job postings and I never see them anymore.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by kenskca

The Viterra Head Office I believe is still listed as Regina.

After the dust settled from the merger with Glencore I believe the Regina head office is a shell of its former self as functions that used to be there have moved.

They used to have all kinds of job postings and I never see them anymore.

Ditto for Crown Life (Canada Life), Wascana Energy (Nexen) and IPSCO (Evraz). All were once major head offices in Regina.

[James Gablan]

I can see the PCS bosses not wanting to move from Chicago to Saskatoon, but what do you think the odds are of the PCS's bosses moving to Calgary after the merger takes place? Especially with the cheap office space in the city right now.

[saskatoonborn]

Didnt most of the VPs plus CEO have to take up residence here to make Saskatoon the head office leaving it mostly sales and marketing. I think that is a good point however. At current rate you could give these guys a 10% raise say they will be paid in Canadian Dollars and move them to Calgary where you would still save 15% on the employee. Although that is probably far to basic an analysis, but none the less there are probably some savings to be had. Calgary has a nice big airport and for general marketing and sales is probably a great location for an office, leaving the engineering , finance, payroll, hr departments and heads for Saskatoon. (Assumption in this scenario anyways)

But who knows its possible nothing will happen at all.

[prairieguy]

Apparently this merger IS happening as announced officially this morning! Now the speculation can focus on what this actually means, versus if it will actually happen. The article states headquarters will remain in Saskatoon with offices in Calgary. What this ACTUALLY means or any impact will have to be seen in the coming months.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pota...rger-1.3757953

So is this good news???

[saskatoonborn]

I think it will be good in the long run. I do suspect there will be some job cuts. What it means in terms of head office jobs in Saskatoon I have no idea. I am hoping it will help move one of our big projects forward but maybe not. Maybe it will spawn a new project in years down the road or nothing will change. I think the province stands to gain on corporate taxes of a 35 billion dollar mining giant headquartered in the province.

[Echoes]

I suspect that the reference to a Saskatoon HQ with a Calgary office means that not much is going to change with respect to the number of head office jobs in Saskatoon. The established workforces of each respective company will probably more or less stay put where they are today.

If this new entity does need more space, I can see them taking a serious look at the River Landing towers. It's a signature location that will surely be hard to pass up.

[macca]

cbc article has a new headline...

Head office for PotashCorp/Agrium merger will be located in Saskatoon
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...toon-1.3758013

[prairieguy]

As stated earlier, there may be little change in either the corporate presence in Saskatoon or Calgary, as it sounds like both will maintain their primary operations where they currently are. I suppose status quo would still be better then loss of corporate or head office jobs.

[Treesplease]

Maybe someone with more knowledge of taxes than me can weigh in but I believe with small businesses operating in multiple provinces they pay taxes in that province where the work or business occurred regardless of where their head office is located? Would this be the same case for Agrium's various production facilities located in Alberta and elsewhere? ie. no net difference in Saskatchewan's tax base if no new jobs move here?

[1ajs]

aww the legacy of sherritt

[casper]

Originally Posted by Echoes

I suspect that the reference to a Saskatoon HQ with a Calgary office means that not much is going to change with respect to the number of head office jobs in Saskatoon. The established workforces of each respective company will probably more or less stay put where they are today.

If this new entity does need more space, I can see them taking a serious look at the River Landing towers. It's a signature location that will surely be hard to pass up.

The reality is the centre of the universe for Potash is Saskatoon. Ok, maybe we have to restrict the definition of the universe to Canada.

Take BPH Billiton as an example, their Canadian headquarters were in Vancouver. Generally regarded by most as a major centre for mining. Given how much BPH Billiton was focused on Potash they relocated staff and headquarters from Vancouver to Saskatoon.

I think it fair to say if its Uranium or Potash there is a strong argument to be made to be based in Saskatoon. The same holds if it is oil or energy for Calgary.

I don't know how Potash Corp is structured. If I were to guess I would not be surprised if each mine is separately incorporated and then owned by Potash Corp. If that is the case, each mine will file its own tax return in the jurisdiction where it operates and then issue dividends to the parent. The parent could charge management fees to the subsidiary and wipe out any tax if the local tax rate were to high. Certain they have bright people in place to optimise all of this. This also facilitates setting up joint ventures and having others take stakes in a given operation.