The story
1934 - Start of construction.
1944 - Start of carnallite production.
1954 - Launch of the first mine group with the annual capacity of 266,000 tonnes.
1964 - Establishment of the Uralkali production association.
1968 – Start of construction of the second mine group.
1970 - Launch of the second mine group.
1974 - Launch of the third mine group.
1987 - Launch of the fourth mine group.
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1993 - Start of privatization of the Uralkali production association and its transformation into OJSC Uralkali.
2001 – Construction completion of the Baltic Bulk Terminal.
2006 - Shutdown of the first mine group.
2007 - Uralkali places its global depositary receipts at the London Stock Exchange.
2011 - Merger of OJSC Uralkali and OJSC Silvinit.
2014 - Purchase of a license to develop the Romanovsky site of the Verkhnekamskoye deposit.
2015 - Delisting of Uralkali GDRs from the London Stock Exchange.
2020 - Acquisition of a controlling stake in Uralkali by Uralchem.
2021 - Uralkali becomes the title sponsor of the Haas F1 Team.
2022 - Haas F1 Team cuts ties with Uralkali.
Recent news
In December 2010, Uralkali announced plans to buy another Russian potash producer Silvinit; together they would form one of the world's largest potash producers. The merger was finalized in June 2011, with the combined Uralkali accounting for about 20% of the world's potash production.
On 9 November 2012, Chengdong Investment Corp., a unit of the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, bought bonds from the shareholders with maturation in 2014 which were exchangeable into a stake in Uralkali. Chengdong would be able to convert its investment into a 12.5 percent stake in Uralkali's ordinary shares. In September 2013, the bonds were converted and CIC thus acquired a 12.5% stake in the firm, rumoured to be worth around $2 billion.
In June 2012, Green Patrol, a Russian environmental non-governmental organization, listed Uralkali as one of the top 100 polluters in Russia, based on information gathered during the previous years. An expedition organised into the Perm Krai by Green Patrol in 2010 revealed that Uralkali's sinks contained at least 16 harmful elements (including zinc and ammonium), exceeding the maximum permissible levels by 1,850 times. Furthermore, according to Green Patrol's President Roman Pukalov, Uralkali failed to fully disclose a complete list of harmful elements that it routinely rejected into the local river Kama. Roman Pukalov described Kama water as "very polluted", and declared that small rivers around Berezniki had in fact turned into brine, something he had "never seen anywhere else".
On 30 July 2013 Uralkali announced that it was pulling out of the Belarusian Potash Company export JV with Belaruskali, through which it exported potash from 2005 to July 2013, and said it would sell the fertilizer on its own. This move sent shares of potash companies tumbling on speculation that potash prices would plunge. This dispute arose over foreign sales and top executives at Uralkali were accused of a criminal scheme. On 26 August Belarus detained the company's CEO Vladislav Baumgertner after inviting him to Minsk for talks. In September 2013 he was moved from solitary confinement and put under house arrest. Uralkali insists that persecution of its employees by Belarusian officials is politically motivated. On 14 October Russia opened a criminal investigation into Vladislav Baumgertner as well, and investigators announced they will request his extradition from Belarus. In November 2013 Vladislav Baumgertner was extradited to Russia and later put under house arrest. In September 2014 he was released on bail.
In December 2013 Suleiman Kerimov sold his shares (21.75%) to ONEXIM Group, while Dmitry Mazepin's Uralchem acquired 19.99%, both becoming key shareholders in Uralkali.
In November 2015, Uralkali's board approved its latest share buyback program, a move that was expected to result in the delisting of the company's stock in London. Uralkali, which also trades in Moscow, said it will repurchase as much as 6.5 percent of its shares from the open market by the end of March 2016.
On 5 October 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order asking the General Attorney of the Federation of Russia Yury Chaika to verify the compliance of Uralkali with the legislation governing planning works and mines filling. Results were to be presented on 1 December 2016, but as of end January 2017 the outcome of the investigation has not been published yet.
In December 2021, Uralkali bought UPI Norte, Brazilian holding and shareholder of FertGrow S.A., local major distributor of fertilizers.
In December 2021, Uralkali-Invest of Uralkali made a buyback of 3,4% of equity shares of Uralchem. By the beginning of 2022, the total of 22.36% of Uralkali voting shares is on the balance of Uralkali-Invest. Before in 2021, the investment division of Uralkali has also acquired 18,5% of equity capital of Uralchem from Dmitry Lobiak, Mazepin's business partner.
From Wikipedia’s article on Uralkali, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
