PhosAgro Becomes Strategic Partner of Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi

MOSCOW, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PhosAgro, one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has signed a strategic partnership deal with Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won the Candidates Tournament and will compete in the World Chess Championship.

"Shortly before the first stage of the Grand Prix in Moscow two years ago, we promised to offer a sponsorship deal to Russian grandmasters who, based on the outcome of the series, would go on to compete for the title of World Chess Champion in the Candidates Tournament. I am thrilled that our support helped Ian secure a landslide victory in Yekaterinburg.

"The main goal of PhosAgro's long-term efforts to develop and promote chess is to crown another Russian World Chess Champion. That's why we will undoubtedly continue to collaborate with Russia's leading grandmaster in order to create the best-possible conditions for Ian to prepare for the World Championship. I am confident that this pinnacle is within his reach", said PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev during the sponsorship contract signing ceremony.

"I would like to thank PhosAgro and Andrey Guryev personally for their support in helping me prepare for the Candidates Tournament. Ahead lies an even more ambitious goal that I won't be able to achieve on my own. Together with a reliable partner like PhosAgro, I will be able to keep my expanded coaching staff – we have worked very well together – and to make the most of our preparation for the Championship", said Mr Nepomniachtchi about the signing of the sponsorship deal.

PhosAgro has been supporting chess since 2010 and is a perennial strategic partner of the Russian Chess Federation. During this time, young Russian chess players have won more than 100 medals in international children's competitions. Russian grandmasters have won world championships in blitz and rapid chess (twice), have finished as the runner-up in the World Championship (twice) and have won the World Cup three times. They also won the first-ever Online Chess Olympiad. The Company is a strategic partner of FIDE and sponsored matches for the World Chess Championship in 2014 (Sochi), 2016 (New York) and 2018 (London).

In the cities where PhosAgro operates – Cherepovets, Kirovsk, Apatity, Volkhov, Balakovo – the Company supports education centres as part of the DROZD programme (Educated and Healthy Children of Russia), where various sports are cultivated, including chess, which gets special attention through chess classes at sponsored schools and preschools.

In addition to chess, PhosAgro is a long-time partner of the Russian Olympians Foundation, the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, the Moscow Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, the Russian Swimming Federation, the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation and the St Petersburg Regional Judo Federation, and it is a sponsor of the Severyanka volleyball club (Vologda region) and the Proton volleyball club (Saratov), the Avtodor basketball club and the Turbina Balakovo Speedway Team (Saratov region), thus contributing to the international success of Russian sport.

About PhosAgro

PhosAgro (www.phosagro.com) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, more than 50 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in over 102 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.