K+S adds Punta de Lobos to its esco salt business
Two Salt Institute member companies are joining, if competition regulators sanction the union. K+S, parent of esco (European Salt Company) with operations in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal, has inked an agreement to acquire Chile’s Sociedad Punta de Lobos S.A. (SPL) for $477 million (US). Punta de Lobos last year extracted 5.7 million tons of rock salt from its Salar Grande surface mine in the Atacama desert and sold much of it through its North American marketing operation, International Salt Company. SPL had earlier acquired another SI member, Salinas Diamante Branco in Brazil and is the largest salt producer in South America. esco sold 6.1 million tons of salt last year for about $490 million. K+S will operate the companies as separate entities.
