CF CEO lashes out at Chavez, praises Peru

05 June 2008 23:00  [Source: ICIS news]

(recasts with additional detail in paragraph 3 for clarity)

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--CF Industries has no interest in being business partners with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and is encouraged by Peru’s emergence as a regional alternative, its CEO said on Thursday.

Steve Wilson, speaking at the Merrill Lynch Agricultural Chemicals Conference in New York, said his company wasn’t interested in South American transactions with Chavez, and that “if there’s any indication he’s our partner, we won’t be there”.

Wilson was speaking in the context of a public setting where he was asked by an investor whether it made sense for CF Industries to invest in a proposed nitrogen complex, citing the political and economic uncertainties surrounding Venezuela. In his response, Wilson assured investors that the company's potential investment would not be in a risky host nation.

“The attractiveness of Peru, to a significant degree, is that they’re an alternative to what Chavez has done in Venezuela,” Wilson said. “Our government in entering in the free trade agreement is very interested in Peru becoming the showcase of the antithesis of Venezuela.”

CF Industries is in talks to build an ammonia and urea plant in Peru that would cost more than $1bn (€650m).

Wilson went on to say that his company must “insure itself against political risk”, and determine if the current stability in Peru is likely to last.

($1 = €0.65)

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By: David Rosen
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