K+S has put its specialty fertilizer business, Compo, up for sale in the face of "high competition", and as part of its quest to focus its firepower on its core potash and salt sectors.

The German fertilizer group said it had hired Goldman Sachs to advise on the sale of the division, which has revenues of E400m a year and employs 1,100 people.

The disposal will free K+S from a market for home, local authority and market gardening fertilizers which is "currently very fragmented and characterised by high competition", the group said.

It will also allow the company to focus its resources on the salt division, which it bolstered through the acquisition of Morton Salt from Dow Chemical last year, and farm fertilizer businesses, which are enjoying a revival in fortunes from a poor 2009.

Acquisition hopes 

K+S said last month that it was scouring the market for further acquisitions, with potash deals looking particularly interesting but takeovers in nitrogen not ruled out.

And the statement comes as control of Russian rival Uralkali is up for grabs, with , Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russia's 10^th richest man, putting his 65% up for sale.

However, while Uralkali has noted talks with "a number of interested third parties", many observers doubt that foreign companies would for political reasons be allowed to buy the stake, worth nearly $5.6bn.

K+S chief executive Norbert Steiner has also raised doubts over further large deals after Morton Salt, which weakened the group's balance sheet sufficient to force the company to turn to shareholders for cash last year. 

The group was reported last month by De Tijd, the Belgian newspaper, to be interested in Tessenderlo's potassium sulphate business.