TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada's Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan has priced an offering of $500-million aggregate principal amount of 3,75% notes due September 30, 2015, and $500-million of 4,875% notes due March 30, 2020, the firm announced on Wednesday.

Potash Corp intends to use the proceeds from the offering to repay debt under revolving credit facilities and for “general corporate purposes”, the company said in a statement.

The offering is expected to close on September 28, 2009, subject to customary closing conditions.

BofA Merrill Lynch, HSBC and RBC Capital Markets are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering.

Late last week, Potash Corp lowered its profit forecast for this year, because of weak potash sales volumes.

The company now only expects full-year earnings of between $3,25 and $3,75 a share, compared with a July estimate of $4 to $5 a share.

The potash industry experienced buoyant demand in the early parts of 2008, but its fortunes turned dramatically as farmers, squeezed by the economic crisis, deferred the use of fertiliser.

Producers acted quickly to cut output levels, and Potash Corp said on Friday that nearly 20-million tons of potash production has now been taken off-line in the last 12 months.

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