Chemical Industry Begins to Witness an Uptick in M&A Activity

SUGAR LAND--March 2, 2010--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As 2009 drew to a close, several planned mergers and acquisitions never came to fruition despite repeated and exhaustive attempts. Included in this group of unsuccessful attempts was the acquisition of Terra Industries Incorporated (NYSE:TRA) (Sioux City, Iowa) by CF Industries Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:CF) (Deerfield, Illinois), which dominated the press through much of last year. The fate of this attempted transaction quickly changed as Terra entered a merger agreement with Yara International ASA (OTC:YARIY) (Oslo, Norway) in February this year. If completed, this merger would swiftly bring to a close multiple failed attempts in the past year by CF Industries to acquire Terra, and would begin 2010 with the first of several possible large mergers and acquisitions.

Other companies featured: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE:APD), Airgas Incorporated (NYSE:ARG)