Business news in brief

Loans, grants aid 6 state water works

Six Arkansas communities will share some $4 million in loans for various water projects, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday. The money comes from the department's water and waste disposal loan and grant program.

Bergman in Boone County will receive a $757,000 loan for improvements to its water system. Lake City, Craighead County, will receive a $1,234,700 loan for a water tank. The Montrose and Boydell Water System in Ashley County will receive a $50,000 loan for water improvements.

The Northeast Public Water Authority in Mountain Home will receive a $731,000 loan for a pipe rehabilitation project that will include removal of asbestos. Ola, in Yell County, will receive a $957,000 loan and a $953,400 grant for improvements to its wastewater treatment plant. The town of St. Francis in Clay County will receive a $327,000 loan and $826,000 grant for water system improvements.

-- Stephen Steed

Target will hire 70,000 for Christmas

NEW YORK -- Target said Monday it will hire more than 70,000 seasonal store workers during the busy Christmas shopping season, about the same as it hired last year.

It also plans to hire an additional 7,500 people for its distribution facilities, which ship online orders and send products to stores.

The discount chain said it will hold hiring events at all of its 1,800 stores on Oct. 14 and 15. Candidates can also apply online.

Target Corp., based in Minneapolis, said existing employees will first get to choose which extra holiday hours they want to work.

-- The Associated Press

2 farm investment firms propose merger

Farmland Partners Inc. said Monday that it plans to merge with American Farmland Co. to create the nation's largest publicly traded real estate investor in farmland. The stock-for-stock trade is subject to the approval of shareholders in both companies. For tax purposes, the companies are known as REITs -- real estate investment trusts.

If approved, the plan will merge Farmland Partners' 271 farms totaling 115,308 acres in 14 states with American Farmland's 18,322 acres on 22 farms, primarily in California. In Arkansas, Farmland Partners has 10,415 acres on 10 farms in 13 counties, according to a list posted last month on the company's website.

In a conference call with investors Monday morning, Paul Pittman, Farmland Partners' chairman and chief executive officer, said the combined portfolio's value will be made up of 75 percent row-crop farmland and 25 percent specialty crops.

Farmland Partners has concentrated its investments on row-crop farmland, especially cotton and soybeans, across the South. American Farmland has concentrated on specialty crops, such as almonds and blueberries, in California.

Farmland Partners is based in Denver. If the deal is approved, American Farmland's operations in New York City will move to Denver.

-- Stephen Steed

Merger to create largest fertilizer firm

CALGARY, Canada -- Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. have agreed to an all-share merger that will create the world's largest fertilizer supplier.

Potash Corp. investors will get 0.4 of a share in the new company for each share they own, and Agrium shareholders will get 2.23 shares, the companies said Monday in a joint statement. Potash Corp. holders will own 52 percent of the firm, which has yet to be named, while the Agrium side will hold 48 percent. Agrium Chief Executive Officer Chuck Magro will head the combined group.

The tie-up comes during an agricultural downturn in which producers of fertilizer and seeds are struggling with low commodity prices and weak demand. It's also the latest in a string of multi-billion-dollar deals in the agricultural chemicals market. Negotiations between Bayer AG and Monsanto Co. are advancing after the German company's $55 billion takeover bid. China National Chemical Corp. agreed in February to acquire Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG for about $43 billion, while DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. plan to merge and then carve out a new crop-science unit.

Combining Agrium and Potash Corp. will create a company that not only produces commodity fertilizer but also sells it directly to farmers through a North American network of retail stores. Potash Corp. is largely a mining company, extracting potash in underground mines, while Agrium got 77 percent of its revenue last year from its retail arm.

-- Bloomberg News

Tata Steel reports third quarterly loss

MUMBAI, India -- Tata Steel Ltd. posted a third straight quarterly loss on account of a global supply glut that pressured prices and discontinued operations at its business in the U.K. that produced "long product" such as wire, rod, rail, and bars.

The Mumbai-based company's net loss widened to $475 million in the three months through June from a restated $47.5 million loss a year ago. Sales for the quarter slipped to about $4 billion, missing analysts' estimates.

China, maker of half the world's steel, has flooded markets from Europe to India with cheaper supplies, forcing competitors to lower prices and eroding their profits. While India's government has imposed import curbs, Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation's biggest mill, still reported a fifth consecutive quarterly loss last week, even as it increases capacity to meet government infrastructure spending plans.

Tata Steel put the for-sale sign on its U.K. business in March, after years of losses, before suspending the process in the wake of Britain's decision to quit the European Union. It discontinued operations of its long product business in the U.K. and completed its sale to Greybull Capital on May 31, it said in the statement. The company has also announced talks with Germany's Thyssenkrupp AG to combine their European operations, which could include Tata's U.K. operations.

-- Bloomberg News

Horizon will buy drugmaker for $800M

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Horizon Pharma agreed to buy Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. for about $800 million to bolster its rare-disease treatment business and expand internationally, the companies said Monday.

Horizon will pay $9 a share in cash, about 21 percent more than Raptor's closing price on Friday of $7.45, the companies said in a statement. The transaction will close by the end of 2016, and should add to earnings next year, they said.

As part of the deal, Horizon gains Procysbi, a treatment for nephropathic cystinosis, a rare metabolic disorder, as well as Quinsair, which is given to cystic fibrosis patients. Raptor's previously disclosed total net sales guidance for full-year 2016 is $125 million to $135 million, which includes both Procysbi and Quinsair.

Horizon will fund the purchase through $675 million of debt along with cash on hand, according to the statement.

-- Bloomberg News

Business on 09/13/2016

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