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Agrium CEO Michael Wilson.TODD KOROL/Reuters

Now that Agrium Inc. chief executive officer Michael Wilson is on the road talking to shareholders, he believes he has all the answers he needs to fend off an assault from activist shareholder Jana Partners.

Jana is a New York fund that has been agitating to split Agrium, and to install five new directors on its board with more experience in running retail businesses such as Agrium's farm products operations. So far, Agrium has largely let Jana do all the talking.

That changed on Monday, when Agrium held a four-and-a-half-hour presentation designed to answer many of the questions Jana has raised about Agrium's business. After that, Mr. Wilson set off on rounds of shareholder meetings that will take him across the continent in coming days.

In Toronto on Wednesday, he said he has heard from shareholders that there is a "high degree of confidence" in the ability of Agrium's management to run the company, and investors are saying "hopefully Jana will go away now that you've defused those questions."

Jana has "asked good questions," he said, such as should you split the company, but ones that Agrium is already asking itself. "The answer is no, because it's value destroying. But it's a good question to ask."

Some shareholders have raised the idea of "why not" put Jana's director candidates onto the Agrium board, Mr. Wilson said. But that's because Jana has been on the road talking to shareholders.

"We're hearing it, but you have to remember who was the last one to visit the shareholders you talked to," he said. "Give me another week to follow around and see our shareholders."

Investors may have a different view then, he suggested.

And, he hinted, Agrium may nominate its own new directors to its board that answer any concerns that there are holes in the company's boardroom.

"You will see us continue to add directors to our board with the appropriate qualifications," he said. But he signalled that it is unlikely that they would come from Jana's slate in any compromise.

"It is not typical to bring someone on the board who tells you your strategy is flawed and indirectly tells you you're incompetent."

Mr. Wilson said he does not know what could stop the fight.

"I have no idea what will defuse this with them. I just wish they would be happy shareholders having made so much money with their investment, and recognize that the upside of this company is strong."

It may well be that the dispute could go right to Agrium's annual meeting, which usually happens in May, and a vote on the board.

"An activist has to show they have staying power. I'm not sure what's motivating them to continue to stay, other than they've invested in one heck of a good company and there's a lot of upside. It's been a great investment for them, but not likely for the reasons they thought."

(Boyd Erman is a Globe and Mail Capital Markets Reporter & Streetwise Columnist.)

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