Owner of Ukraine's Ukrlandfarming in talks to sell stake -Interfax
24/10/2016 14:36
KIEV, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Ukrainian businessman Oleh
Bakhmatyuk, the major shareholder in agricultural group
Ukrlandfarming, is in talks with Chinese and Middle East
investors about possibly selling a stake in the company,
Interfax news agency said on Monday.
Ukrlandfarming's main businesses are grain and sugar
production, livestock farming, the distribution of agricultural
products and the production of eggs and egg products. It owns
London-listed egg producer Avangardco AVGRq.L .
The flotation of 20 percent of Avangardco on the London
stock market in 2010 put Bakhmatyuk on a Forbes list of the
world's youngest billionaires.
But his businesses have struggled to turn a profit since the
2014 separatist uprising in Ukraine pushed the country into an
economic slump and hit sales.
"I understand that to attract investors is the only way
out," he told Interfax. It did not say what size stake he might
sell.
Avangardco, Europe's largest producer of shell eggs and dry
egg products, reported a $158 million loss for 2015, widening
from a $26 million loss in 2014.
In May this year, a Ukrainian court approved a request from
the central bank to freeze real estate assets belonging to
Bakhmatyuk in connection with the failure of a bank owned by him
to repay loans of about $160 million. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N18F4FG
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Matthias Williams and
Susan Fenton)
((pavel.polityuk@tr.com; +380 44 2449150; Reuters Messaging:
pavel.polityuk.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: UKRAINE AGRICULTURE/UKRLANDFARMING