History and expansion
Uralchem was founded in 2007 by businessman Dmitry Mazepin, who was the majority shareholder of the enterprise until 2022, when he reduced his share to 48%.[9][10][11] According to the company website, Uralchem was established after the controlling stakes of chemical companies Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Works and Azot were combined to form a single enterprise.[12]
In 2008, Uralchem acquired a 71.1 percent stake in Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers, followed by 100 percent stock acquisition in 2011. Equally in 2008, the company bought a 7.5 percent stake in chemical company Togliattiazot and increased its stake to just below 10 percent the following year. It also obtained 44.3 percent of JSC Perm Mineral Fertilizers in 2009. In 2017, Uralchem increased its stake in Perm Mineral Fertilizers to 100 percent.[13] In 2023, Uralchem completed the reorganization of Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers JSC in the form of a merger with UCC Uralchem JSC.[14]
In April 2010, the company announced to float 40 percent of its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the hopes of raising up to $600 million in funds to be used for servicing debt incurred by the acquisitions.[10] However, the IPO was put on hold in October that year, citing unfavorable market conditions and investors' nervousness "about external factors."[15]
The company three years later, in 2013, bought 20 percent of Uralkali, the biggest potash fertilizer producer in the world.[16] Although no official transaction price was ever disclosed, it is estimated that Uralchem paid $2.9 billion for the acquisition.[17]
In 2013 Uralchem and LLC Riga Commercial Port completed construction and opened a terminal at the Riga Port in Latvia for bulk fertilizers handling and short-term storage, called Riga Fertilizer Terminal. Uralchem became the controlling shareholder of the facility.[18] A year later, the chemical firm acquired a controlling stake in Latvia's liquid ammonia transshipment terminal SIA Ventamonjaks.[19]
The firm has also sought to increase its presence in African markets in recent years, particularly Zimbabwe,[20] where Uralchem is hoping to acquire a minimum 50 percent stake in Chemplex, the state phosphorus fertilizer producer.[21] Uralchem has also announced the beginning of cooperation Zambia and Angola, where it plans to build a urea plant. [22]
In December 2021 Dmitry Mazepin rewrote his Cyprus-based companies Uralchem Holding and CI-Chemical Invest, controlling “Uralchem”, to Russian jurisdiction at special administrative district on Oktyabrsky Island of Kaliningrad Oblast.[23] In March 2022, Dmitry Mazepin entered into an agreement to sell the Cyprus company Uralchem Freight Limited (UFL), which owns shares in two Latvian companies operating ports in Riga and Ventspils - SIA Riga Fertilization Terminal (RFT) and SIA Ventamoniaks (VA). The buyer was the Swiss company Svizraa SA.[24] The Latvian authorities refused to register the transaction, after which the contract for the sale of the company with Svizraa SA was terminated.[25][26]
