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Bloomberg – K+S AG, Europe’s largest maker of potash for fertilizers, and competitor Israel Chemicals Ltd. fell in local trading after a Russian rival’s contract in India prompted speculation that prices will come under pressure.
The drop mirrors declines at North American producers Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Mosaic Co. on July 10 after RBC Capital Markets reported that Russian producer OAO Silvinit may have sold the crop nutrient for less than analysts expected. K+S lost as much as 5.4 percent and the Israeli company dropped 3 percent.
Soros Fund Management LLC, billionaire investor George Soros’s hedge fund firm, owns about 1.9 percent of Potash Corp after reducing the stake to 5.6 million shares at the end of the first quarter from 5.9 million at the beginning of the year.
Tehran Times – Atticus Capital LP sold 23 of the 25 U.S.-listed stocks it owned in the first quarter as the New York-based hedge-fund firm run by Timothy Barakett put more money into cash while equity markets fell.
Atticus sold 1.69 million shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash, the world’s largest producer of its namesake fertilizer, had been the firm’s top U.S. holding.
Barakett, whose firm oversees about $6 billion in assets, also sold all of his 5.31 million shares of Microsoft Corp. The world’s largest software maker, based in Redmond, Washington, had been the firm’s second-largest U.S. position.
Bloomberg – Billionaire investor George Soros’s hedge-fund firm bought more shares of Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. in the fourth quarter, almost doubling its holdings.
Soros Fund Management LLC bought 16 million shares of the Petrobras’ U.S. traded shares, bringing its stake to 1.45 percent, according to a filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The New York-based firm increased its holdings in Potash by 2.6 million shares to 2 percent in the fourth quarter. Petrobras and Potash are now the firm’s two biggest reported U.S. stocks.
