May 23 (Reuters) - U.S. fertilizer maker CF Industries
Holdings Inc CF.N and Dutch rival OCI NV OCI.AS ended their
merger agreement on Monday, following the U.S. Treasury's steps
to curb tax avoiding inversion deals.
CF Industries had agreed to buy OCI NV's North American and
European plants for $6 billion in August, in addition to
assuming $2 billion of OCI's debt, to create the world's largest
publicly traded nitrogen company.
"...changes in the regulatory and commercial environments
forced us to re-evaluate the combination," CF Industries Chief
Executive Tony Will said in a statement.
CF Industries will pay OCI a termination fee of $150 million
related to the deal.
In April, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue
Service announced new steps to curb "inversion" deals that U.S.
companies do with foreign corporations, including earnings
stripping.
The latest steps impose a 3-year limit on foreign companies
bulking up on U.S. assets to avoid ownership requirements for a
later inversions deal.