CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA — Agrium Inc. announced on Aug. 19 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with AWB Limited to acquire all the shares of AWB at a price of A$1.50 per share.

"The combination of Agrium and AWB provides significant strategic and financial benefits to a wide array of stakeholders. We are particularly excited about the future of working with AWB employees to reinvest in the business and bring a greater choice of products and services to AWB's grower customer base," said Agrium President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Wilson.

AWB has advised Agrium that its board considers the Agrium proposal superior to the proposed merger with GrainCorp Limited. Under AWB's existing agreement with GrainCorp, AWB is required to provide three clear days notice to GrainCorp before changing or withdrawing their recommendation. The waiting period expires Aug. 23 and Agrium anticipates that AWB will recommend the Agrium transaction at that time.

The Agrium transaction is currently envisaged to be executed via a scheme of arrangement and is subject to the conditions precedent typically included in transactions of this type.

AWB currently has 817,304,356 shares and 7,043,858 performance rights issued which the Agrium Agreement is based upon, resulting in a purchase price of A$1.237 billion.