6:54 AM
FRANKFURT | Sat Aug 28, 2010 9:20am EDT
FRANKFURT Reuters - Potash miner K+S SDFG.DE is specialized enough to weather any takeover of Canadian rival Potash Corp POT.TO and survive as a standalone entity, the German firms finance director told a newspaper.
Potash Corp is facing a hostile $39 billion bid from BHP Billiton BHP.AX. The Canadian firms shares have traded well above the $130 that the offer represents, suggesting investors believe BHP will boost its offer or a rival bidder will emerge.
"We are following the latest developments ... calmly," Jan Peter Nonnenkamp told Boersen Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
Asked if K+S, the worlds fourth-largest potash miner, should act to ensure it does not become a takeover target, he said: "A change of ownership at Potash Corp would not create new capacity.
"The worldwide potash market would continue to offer sufficient space for K+S. That is true for standard products, but particularly more so for our specialty products," he said.
"In the past few years, K+S was able to assert itself very successfully against export cartels like Canpotex or BPC."
Nonnenkamp said K+S would continue to create value for shareholders, which was "the best protection against takeovers."
Editing by John Stonestreet
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