Linas Agro Group sells off Russian and Belarussian assets

The buyers are said to be Russian-based companies, though, under the condition of the agreement, they are not disclosed. The deal worth €7.5 million is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

The companies on sale are engaged in the production and wholesale of premixes and the wholesale of feed and feedstuff. The sale of Belfidagro is yet to be approved by the Belarusian competition authority MART.

Worsening conditions

Linas Agro Group reported that the companies were prepared for sale at the end of 2021. Hence, the signing of the deal was not a part of a mass exodus of Western businesses from Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.

“We had planned to sell companies in Russia and Belarus without hurry. Unfortunately, the situation has changed radically. The war in Ukraine has disrupted negotiations with the buyers we already had. The process of finding buyers was restarted, and intensive negotiations with several buyers followed,” Darius Zubas, Chairman of the Board of AB Linas Agro Group, said.

“We had no expectation that we would sell the companies on the terms we expected back in early 2022. Negotiations and fine-tuning the sale details took some time, so we are delighted to have finally completed this difficult phase,” he added.

Severing ties

After the war’s outbreak in Ukraine, Linas Agro Group’s subsidiaries broke their partnerships with Russian and Belarusian businesses, looking for alternative suppliers, goods, and new logistics routes, the company said, adding that all its other subsidiaries suspended cooperation with the companies on sale.

“We didn’t even have time to better get to know the companies we acquired last July, as we broke off contact with them at the end of February due to the war. One company in Belarus, OOO KLM, could not be sold together with the others as we could not find an interested buyer. Thus, we are continuing our search for buyers,” commented D. Zubas.

OOO KLM is a wholesaler of agricultural inputs, veterinary goods, premixes, and seeds. This company is jointly owned by the public company Kauno Grūdai, a subsidiary of Linas Agro Group and a Belarussian businessman.

Linas Agro said it planned to disclose the impact of the sale of the companies on Linas Agro Group’s future financial results in its 3-month reports for the 2022/2023 financial year.