DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) began its exchange offer for all outstanding shares in rival fertilizer maker Terra Industries Inc. (TRA).

Earlier this week, CF resumed its pursuit of Terra with a roughly $4.72 billion offer that seeks to break up an agreed bid from Norway's Yara International ASA (YAR.OS, YARIY). Terra for a year had fought CF's advances before accepting Yara's all-cash $4.1 billion bid last month.

CF Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen R. Wilson called his company's offer "far superior" to Yara's on Friday, because the CF deal can close months sooner and carries fewer hurdles to overcome before closing, such as U.S. and European antitrust approval needs in a Yara/Terra combination.

CF's offer of $37.15 in cash and 0.0953 CF share for each Terra share is worth about $47.46 based on Thursday's closing price. It expires April 2 at 5 p.m. EST.

Neither CF nor Terra shares were trading premarket after closing Thursday at $108.23 and $44.80, respectively. Both stocks are up about three-fourths from a year earlier, better than the market at large.

-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com