Sirius shareholders accept Anglo American takeover deal

Sirius chairman Russell Scrimshaw said: "The positive outcome from today’s meeting secures a return for shareholders and provides greater certainty in terms of safeguarding the project, protection the jobs of our employees and allowing the community, region and the UK to continue to benefit from the project."

Anglo agreed in January to buy Sirius for 5.5p a share. Sirius has since urged its shareholders to accept the deal, arguing that without it, the company would likely be placed into administration.

Many shareholders had paid as much as 25p per share.

The deal received 80% shareholder support; 75% approval was needed.

When the deal was announced, Anglo said Sirius' North Yorkshire polyhalite project - set to be the world's largest - had been identified as being of potential interest "given the quality of the underlying asset in terms of scale, resource life, operating cost profile and the nature and quality of its product".

It said at the time that the project had the potential to fit well with Anglo's established strategy of focusing on "world-class assets", particularly in the context of its portfolio trajectory towards later cycle products that support a fast-growing global population and a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world.

Last September, Sirius was forced to pull a $500m raising due to jittery bond markets and cut the rate of development on its potash project as the UK government also refused support. The company needed to raise the $500m in order to unlock a $2.5bn credit facility arranged with JP Morgan that would give it access to the rest of the money it needed.