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Compass Minerals sells portion of assets to Koch Industries

The locally headquartered mineral producer has entered a definitive agreement to sell a portion of its North America micronutrient assets to Koch subsidiary, Koch Agronomic Services. The deal follows another recent sale of its specialty plant nutrition business for $418 million in March.

Overland Park-based Compass Minerals International Inc. has sold a portion of its North American Micronutrient assets to Wichita-based Koch Industries subsidiary, Koch Agronomic Services LLC.

“Compass Minerals has been proud to grow the Wolf Trax product line and introduce both Rocket Seeds and Hydro Bullet into the specialty plant nutrition market,” Compass Minerals CEO Kevin Crutchfield said in a news release. “We’re excited to see how these three innovative micronutrient product lines can continue to develop in the hands of a strong sector leader like Koch.”

“We are excited to enter the micronutrient business with three product lines that fit our customers’ desire to improve distribution of micronutrients across the field in conjunction with dry fertilizers, as seed treatments and as foliar applications,” Steve Coulter, senior vice president of Koch, said in the release.

Compass Minerals, which manufactures salt and magnesium chloride, last month sold its South American specialty plant nutrition business in a deal valued at $418 million. It said the money would pay down debt and go toward “corporate purposes.”

Koch said the acquisition would help growers across the world improve growing efficiency and uptake of nutrients.