CALGARY, Alberta -- Agrium Inc. (TSX and NYSE: AGU) said today that it will oppose Royster-Clark’s stalling tactics.

“We believe our offer represents fair and full value and is fully compliant with all securities laws.  Royster-Clark is attempting to use a shareholders rights plan at a late stage in the offer process.  Royster-Clark has been provided with the full statutory period of 35 days to identify superior alternatives, so far without apparent success.  We will be asking the Ontario Securities Commission to set aside the rights plan and allow Royster-Clark’s unitholders to take advantage of the opportunity presented by our offer,” said Mike Wilson, Agrium President and CEO.

“Royster-Clark has not contacted Agrium to provide us with access to the confidential information they say they have provided to other parties, we would expect them to provide equivalent access.”  Mr. Wilson said. 

Agrium looks forward to quick resolution of these issues so it can complete the acquisition, provide fair value to the unitholders of Royster-Clark, and start to provide enhanced value to Royster-Clark’s customers.

Agrium Inc. is a leading global producer and marketer of agricultural nutrients and industrial products and a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in both North and South America.  Agrium produces and markets three primary groups of nutrients: nitrogen, phosphate and potash as well as controlled release fertilizers and micronutrients. Agrium’s strategy is to grow through incremental expansion of its existing operations and acquisitions as well as the development, commercialization and marketing of new products and international opportunities.

This press release contains forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations.  These risk factors relative to this bid, include: realization of operational synergies, reliance on Royster-Clark Ltd.’s publicly available information which may not fully identify all risks related to their performance, success in integrating the retail distribution systems, and the integration of supply chain management processes, as well as other risk factors listed from time to time in Agrium’s reports, comprehensive public disclosure documents including the Annual Information Form, and in other filings with securities commissions in Canada (on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com/) and the United States (on EDGAR at http://www.sec.gov/).

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