PLYMOUTH, Minn., May 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mosaic Company
(NYSE: MOS) announced today that its Board of Directors approved a
new share repurchase authorization in the amount of $1.5 billion, allowing Mosaic to repurchase Class
A or common shares, through open market purchases, accelerated
share repurchase arrangements, privately negotiated transactions or
otherwise. The new authorization has no set expiration date, but it
is expected to be completed over the next two to three year period
depending on market conditions. The remaining amount under the
Company's current authorization has been cancelled.
As part of the new authorization, Mosaic intends to execute an
accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreement in the near term for
$500 million. The ASR agreement is
expected to be completed by the end of September, 2015.
"This new authorization, combined with our increased dividend,
underscores confidence in our investments and Mosaic's ability to
grow cash flow across business cycles," said President and Chief
Executive Officer Jim Prokopanko.
"Effectively allocating our capital to generate attractive
long-term returns and returning excess capital to shareholders are
top priorities."
"We're happy to announce a $1.5
billion authorization which fits with our long articulated
capital management philosophy. As we have said, Mosaic will
continue with a balanced approach to capital by investing in our
assets, growing our business when compelling opportunities arise,
increasing our dividend as our business grows, and returning excess
cash to shareholders," said Rich
Mack, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
"Mosaic's prudent capital allocation will be an integral part of
creating long-term, sustainable value for our shareholders, and our
future cash flow generation looks promising."
Additionally, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly
dividend of $0.275 per share on the
Company's common stock, which is an increase from the previous
quarterly dividend of $0.25. The
dividend will be paid on June 18,
2015, to stockholders of record as of the close of business
on June 4, 2015.
The declaration and payment of any future dividends is subject
to approval by Mosaic's Board of Directors. There can be no
assurance that the Company's Board of Directors will declare future
dividends.
About The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic
Company is one of the world's leading producers and marketers of
concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Mosaic is a
single source provider of phosphate and potash fertilizers and feed
ingredients for the global agriculture industry. More information
on the company is available at www.mosaicco.com.
This document contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about
the Wa'ad Al Shamal Phosphate Company (also known as the Ma'aden
joint venture), the acquisition and assumption of certain related
liabilities of the Florida
phosphate assets of CF Industries, Inc. ("CF") and Mosaic's ammonia
supply agreements with CF; repurchases of stock; other proposed or
pending future transactions or strategic plans and other statements
about future financial and operating results. Such statements are
based upon the current beliefs and expectations of The Mosaic
Company's management and are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include but are not
limited to risks and uncertainties arising from the ability of the
Ma'aden joint venture to obtain additional planned funding in
acceptable amounts and upon acceptable terms, the timely
development and commencement of operations of production facilities
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
the future success of current plans for the Ma'aden joint venture
and any future changes in those plans; difficulties with
realization of the benefits of the transactions with CF, including
the risk that the cost or capital savings from the transactions may
not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected,
or the price of natural gas or ammonia changes to a level at which
the natural gas based pricing under one of the long term ammonia
supply agreements with CF becomes disadvantageous to Mosaic;
customer defaults; the effects of Mosaic's decisions to exit
business operations or locations; the predictability and volatility
of, and customer expectations about, agriculture, fertilizer, raw
material, energy and transportation markets that are subject to
competitive and other pressures and economic and credit market
conditions; the level of inventories in the distribution channels
for crop nutrients; changes in foreign currency and exchange rates;
international trade risks and other risks associated with Mosaic's
international operations and those of joint ventures in which
Mosaic participates, including the risk that protests against
natural resource companies in Peru
extend to or impact the Miski Mayo mine; changes in government
policy; changes in environmental and other governmental regulation,
including greenhouse gas regulation, implementation of numeric
water quality standards for the discharge of nutrients into
Florida waterways or efforts to
reduce the flow of excess nutrients into the Mississippi River
basin, the Gulf of Mexico or
elsewhere; further developments in judicial or administrative
proceedings, or complaints that Mosaic's operations are adversely
impacting nearby farms, business operations or properties;
difficulties or delays in receiving, increased costs of or
challenges to necessary governmental permits or approvals or
increased financial assurance requirements; resolution of global
tax audit activity; the effectiveness of Mosaic's processes for
managing its strategic priorities; adverse weather conditions
affecting operations in Central
Florida, the Mississippi River basin, the Gulf Coast of
the United States or Canada, and including potential hurricanes,
excess heat, cold, snow, rainfall or drought; actual costs of
various items differing from management's current estimates,
including, among others, asset retirement, environmental
remediation, reclamation or other environmental regulation,
Canadian resources taxes and royalties, the liabilities Mosaic
assumed in the Florida phosphate
assets acquisition, or the costs of the Ma'aden joint venture, its
existing or future funding and Mosaic's commitments in support of
such funding; reduction of Mosaic's available cash and liquidity,
and increased leverage, due to its use of cash and/or available
debt capacity to fund share repurchases, financial assurance
requirements and strategic investments; brine inflows at Mosaic's
Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, potash
mine or other potash shaft mines; other accidents and disruptions
involving Mosaic's operations, including potential mine fires,
floods, explosions, seismic events or releases of hazardous or
volatile chemicals; and risks associated with cyber security,
including reputational loss, as well as other risks and
uncertainties reported from time to time in The Mosaic Company's
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual
results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements.
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SOURCE The Mosaic Company