Nov 17 2010
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the commencement of a share repurchase program authorizing up to US$2 billion in repurchases of PotashCorp's outstanding common shares over a one-year period through a normal course issuer bid.
The Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has accepted PotashCorp's notice with respect to the program and purchases under the program may commence on November 18, 2010 and will terminate not later than November 17, 2011. Subject to market conditions, our current intention is to complete the share repurchases by December 31, 2010.
Based on the closing price of the common shares of PotashCorp on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") on November 15, 2010, PotashCorp could repurchase approximately 14.57 million common shares or approximately 4.9% of the "public float" (as such term is defined in the TSX Company Manual) of common shares under the program. Common shares repurchased under the program will be cancelled.
Purchases under the program may be made through the facilities of the TSX, the NYSE or other published markets by means of open market transactions or by such other means as may be permitted by the TSX and applicable U.S. securities laws, including the safe harbor provided by Rule 10b-18 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Rule 10b-18"). The price PotashCorp will pay for any common shares will be the market price at the time of purchase or such other price as may be permitted by the TSX and Rule 10b-18. The actual number of common shares that may be repurchased under the program and the timing of any such repurchases will be determined by PotashCorp and will be subject to the limitations imposed by the rules and regulations of the TSX and Rule 10b-18 (including the average daily trading volume (ADTV) limitations and the TSX's 12-month public float limitation). As at November 15, 2010, the company had 297,848,379 common shares outstanding and the public float (as such term is defined in the TSX Company Manual) was 296,721,059 common shares. The ADTV of the company's shares on the TSX (for the 6 months ended October 31, 2010) and the NYSE (for the preceding four calendar weeks as of the date hereof) was 1,099,784 common shares and 8,259,929 common shares, respectively.
Source: Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.