When Yara International agreed to acquire Terra Industries (NYSE: TRA) last month for $4.1 billion in cash, Agrium (NYSE: AGU) confidently asserted that its own takeover object, CF Industries (NYSE: CF), would recognize the "important benefits of being part of a larger, global company."

Of course, CF has long been in the bigger is better camp. That's manifested in today's renewed bid for Terra, at a solid premium to Yara's offer. CF is offering $47.40 per Terra share in cash and stock, based on Monday's closing price. The cash component represents 78% of the total bid.

One of the interesting things here is that in CF's Jan. 14 announcement that it was dropping its bid for Terra, the company said that, "it is not in the best interests of CF Industries stockholders to increase our offer to the level that we believe now would be required for Terra to agree to an acquisition."

Now, CF is saying that its new, higher-priced acquisition would be "significantly accretive to earnings," even after a planned $1 billion stock offering to help fund the purchase.

So, did CF's perception of what it would take to get a deal done drop since mid-January? I suppose it's possible. Terra certainly did make it seem like it was unwilling to negotiate with CF, and then the Yara deal arrived out of the blue. That agreement at least gave CF a starting point from which it could hammer out an acceptable offer.

I'm curious to hear from CF shareholders. Do you think the firm has stayed true to its shareholders, or is it creating a justification for the higher offer on the fly? Leave a comment below.