Nutrien Ltd. and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA locked horns over the divestment of Sociedad Quimica shares by Nutrien to Tianqi Lithium Corp. Sociedad Quimica, or SQM, said it raised concerns over Nutrien's sale of its shares to Chilean regulators citing issues with the buyer. "SQM is in a situation where it will have to receive a direct competitor as a shareholder, which although it is not illegal, presents risks and challenges to free competition," it said in a Sept. 13 press release. A Chile-based analyst, who did not want to be named, said the share-sale opposition came as a surprise and could imperil the divestment process. "SQM is going to try to bring down the transaction and both have valid arguments here," he said. Nutrien, as part of a broader merger process, was required by regulators to divest assets including a stake in SQM. It found a buyer of SQM shares in Tianqi. In a Sept. 14 release Nutrien said SQM's comments on the divestment were "extraordinary and self serving." It said that SQM had not raised the issue before and suggested that Chinese ownership was an issue to SQM. "The only difference appears to be the country of origin of the minority equity shareholder," Nutrien said. Nutrien said it was considering options in response to SQM's position and that it was "confident" SQM would "not succeed in its attempt to frustrate this transaction."
Fertiliser giant Chile has accused Chilean lithium miner SQM of contributing to the sale of Nutrien 's stake in SQM to China 's Tianqi Lithium because Tianqi is a Chinese company . SQM only recently raised concerns over the sale of the shares , saying it was , " in a situation where it would have to receive a direct competitor as a shareholder , which although it is not illegal , presents risks and challenges to free competition . " The SQM share sale is part of a divestment process required by regulators following Nutrien 's exit through the 2018 merger of Potash Corp and Agrium .