CALGARY - German fertilizer company K+S AG says its retail shareholders are against a multibillion-dollar takeover offer from Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.
The company released a survey of its retail, or non-institutional, shareholders, Monday that showed 84 per cent of respondents were against PotashCorp's current proposal.
PotashCorp (TSX:POT) is offering 41 euros a share for the company, valuing it at about 7.9 billion euros or C$11.3 billion.
K+S says 39,000 retail shareholders or about 28 per cent of the total participated in the survey. Retail shareholders account for about 30 per cent of all outstanding shares.
The survey also showed 28 per cent of retail investors would accept a significantly higher takeover offer, while only four per cent would accept the 41 euro per share offer.
"Our private shareholders have made their position clear," stated K+S chief executive Norbert Steiner.
"They share the assessment of the K+S board of executive directors and supervisory board that the current PotashCorp proposal fails to reflect the fundamental value of K+S."
K+S chief financial officer Burkhard Lohr said the "overwhelming majority" of institutional investors the company has spoken with are also against the current offer.
Last week PotashCorp sent a letter to K+S offering the same share price as in earlier offers but with more guarantees on jobs and mine operations. The K+S board rejected that offer.