Alfa-Bank became the owner of 19% of Tavros agricultural holding

Rustem Mirgalimov, a large producer of meat and sugar, the agricultural holding Tavros, has attracted a financial investor to the capital. More than 19% of Tavros Management Company was received by Alfa-Bank, which was previously the holding’s creditor. The deal will allow the bank to diversify its portfolio with a liquid asset that can be resold, and Tavros will receive funds for new projects.

Alfa-Bank became the owner of 19.01% of Tavros Management Company, the head structure of a large agricultural holding owned by Rustem Mirgalimov, managing partner of AVG Capital Partners. Changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities were made on June 27, Kommersant drew attention. The share of Mr. Mirgalimov in Tavros Management Company decreased to 80.98%. Alfa-Bank confirmed to Kommersant the acquisition of a 19.01% stake in Tavros Management Company. “The transaction is not related to lending and has an autonomous character that meets the interests of both parties,” the bank explained. In “Tavros” “Kommersant” did not answer.

The main assets of Tavros are concentrated in Bashkiria. According to its own data, it manages 117 thousand hectares of agricultural land, produces meat, sugar, and confectionery. The Bashkir Meat Company, which is part of the agricultural holding, ranked 13th in terms of pork production in Russia in 2022, producing 101.3 thousand tons of products in live weight, according to the National Union of Pig Breeders. The Chishminsky Sugar Plant (ChSZ), owned by Tavros, planned to produce 120,000 tons of sugar in 2022.

Alfa-Bank is already acting as a creditor of ChSY, follows from the company’s annual report. Dmitry Gabyshev, managing director of Peregrine Capital, says that now Alfa-Bank could acquire a stake as a financial investor, which allows Tavros to use the funds raised for development. According to him, the exit from the asset for the bank may be the sale of the share back to the company with a premium. As Mr. Gabyshev notes, a 19% stake can provide the bank with one or two seats on the board of directors, allow it to receive more information about the business, block important decisions, and in extreme cases, claim most of the assets.

Nikolay Titov, co-founder of the atLegal law firm, notes that the bank’s management may be interested in diversifying its asset portfolio by entering new business areas in order to save money from depreciation and increase it. According to him, this can also serve as an additional guarantee for the return of a large loan. In case of delays in the payment of funds, the share in the capital of Tavros Management Company can be used as security or compensation for part of the losses, the lawyer points out. Ekaterina Makeeva, a partner at the A-PRO Law Office, adds that Alfa-Bank can invest in capital for the purpose of further resale of a liquid asset.

Sources of Kommersant in the market previously attributed Tavros to the number of players who today may be interested in consolidating poultry farms specializing in the production of eggs. In 2022, the company “Management of Agricultural Assets”, which is associated with Tavros on the market, acquired for 2 billion rubles. the Cherkizovo group has the Bashkirskaya poultry farm with a capacity of 750 million eggs per year. Kommersant’s interlocutors also called Tavros a contender for the purchase of the Komsomolskaya poultry farm in the Perm Territory with a capacity of 650 million eggs per year with the possibility of expanding twice.

This asset is up for auction on May 19 at an initial price of 2 billion rubles. put up by the bank “Trust” (see “Kommersant” dated May 10). But the auction did not take place due to lack of bids. According to the interlocutor of “Kommersant” in the market, potential buyers considered the initial price too high, taking into account the need for additional investment. He expects new trading to take place in the second half of August. The representative of “Trust” said that the date of the new auction and the starting price have not yet been determined.

In recent years, the agricultural sector has been on the rise, so many non-core players have shown interest in it, who saw great opportunities in this market in the current realities. Trust Technologies (formerly PwC Russia) noted that mergers and acquisitions in this sector in 2022 stimulated both the desire of foreign companies to leave the Russian Federation and restrictions on the free movement of capital and the accumulation of liquidity within the country.

Anatoly Kostyrev