A/S Trigon Agri: Land Under Control Exceeds 120,000 Hectares as of 31st March 2008. Acquisition Agreed for Two Additional Grain Elevators in Ukraine
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A/S Trigon Agri hereby announces that as of 31 March 2008 its total land under control exceeded approximately 120,000 hectares in its six operating clusters:
• Four cereal clusters located near Harkov (Ukraine), Kirovograd (Ukraine), Samara (Russia) and a new operating cluster for cereal production near Penza (Russia),
• Two dairy clusters near Gdov (Russia) and in Estonia.
Out of the total land under control approximately 118,000 hectares are located in the four clusters in the Black Earth region (Harkov, Kirovograd, Samara and Penza) and are earmarked for cereal production, with the remainder related to the group’s Russian and Estonian dairy farms. Out of the total land under control, the group intends to carry out fieldworks on around 60,000 hectares of land in spring 2008, with the remaining land planned to be taken into cultivation during the second half of 2008.
In addition, A/S Trigon Agri announces that, pursuing its strategy to build storage capacity, it has signed the agreements for the acquisition of two additional grain storage elevators for its recently established Kirovograd cereal production cluster in Ukraine. The acquisition will be completed through an acquisition of the controlling interest in OJSC Novomirgorodsky Elevator and the controlling interest in OJSC Yavkinskiy Elevator. The elevators are being purchased from Ramburs Group, Kiev. The deal was concluded on a debt-free basis. Both of the elevators are connected to the national railway infrastructure and are well positioned to service the operational area of the Kirovograd cluster. Novomirgorodsky Elevator has a total storage capacity of 129,000 tonnes. Yavkinskiy Elevator has a total storage capacity of 45,600 tonnes.
The acquisitions are expected to be closed within a few days. Following the completion of these two acquisitions, A/S Trigon Agri group will own five grain storage elevators in Ukraine, all in close proximity to two of its clusters, with a combined total capacity of 322,000 tonnes.