Eggs are laid out in briefcases – Kommersant

The Komsomolskaya poultry farm put up for auction with a capacity of 650 million eggs per year, which was previously controlled by ex-shareholder of Binbank Mikail Shishkhanov, became interested in several players at once. Among them are the structures of the owner of the Tavros Group of Companies Rustem Mirgalimov and the agricultural holding Komos Group. Profitability in egg production is lower than in poultry production, but investors are attracted by the possibility of industry consolidation.

The structures of the owner of Tavros Group of Companies, managing partner of AVG Capital Partners Rustem Mirgalimov, and the Komos Group agricultural holding are interested in acquiring the Komsomolskaya poultry farm in the Perm Territory, which produces food eggs, two sources told Kommersant in the market. The enterprise with a capacity of 650 million eggs per year was part of the Healthy Farm Group of Companies, ex-shareholder of Binbank Mikail Shishkhanov. In 2018, after the announcement of the Central Bank on the reorganization of Binbank, control over the “Healthy Farm” was received by the bank of non-core assets “Trust”.

Bidding for the sale of Komsomolskaya is scheduled for May 19, the initial price is 2 billion rubles. According to Kommersant’s sources, other interested parties may also apply for the asset. Trust told Kommersant that they were negotiating with specialized and strategic investors. Tavros and Komos Group did not provide any comments.

Bashkir “Tavros”, according to its own data, manages 117 thousand hectares of arable land, produces meat, sugar, and confectionery. At the end of 2022, the Agroasset Management company, which is associated with Tavros on the market, acquired the Bashkirskaya poultry farm with a capacity of 750 million eggs per year from the Cherkizovo group. Bashkirskaya was among the former poultry assets of Mr. Shishkhanov, which Cherkizovo had previously bought from Trust. Thus, the acquisition of Komsomolskaya will allow the structures of Tavros to produce 1.4 billion eggs per year. Genrikh Arutyunov, General Director of Trust-Poultry Assets Management Company, previously noted that in a short time, with additional investments, Komsomolskaya could increase production to 1.5 billion eggs per year.

For Komos Group, headquartered in Izhevsk, the production of edible eggs is already on the list of main areas. According to its own data, in 2021, the group’s poultry farms produced 1.22 billion eggs, ranking fourth in Russia according to this indicator. “Komos Group” is also one of the largest milk processors (brand “Selo Zelenoe”, etc.), is engaged in the production of pork.

According to a Kommersant source in the market, the average profitability in the production of edible eggs is significantly lower than in the production of poultry meat, but investors are attracted by the opportunity to consolidate several large enterprises and optimize costs. If the two main producers of poultry meat GAP “Resource” and “Cherkizovo” occupy 25-30% of the market, then the largest suppliers of food eggs can have a share of about 5%, says the interlocutor of Kommersant.

Director General of Rosptitsesoyuz Galina Bobyleva says that, unlike poultry meat, which competes with pork, there is no alternative to food eggs and demand for these products remains stable from consumers and food enterprises. As Rosselkhozbank analysts noted, in 2009-2021, the consumption of chicken eggs in Russia per capita increased by 23 pieces and reached 308 pieces. According to Rosstat, in the first quarter of 2023, poultry farms sold 8.6 billion eggs, which is 5.7% more than a year earlier.

Although the president of Agrifood Strategies, Albert Davleev, notes that the commercial egg market is very fragmented, and the consolidation and subsequent management of several poultry farms will be a difficult task. According to him, the domestic market for edible eggs is stagnant, and exports are limited to small deliveries to the countries of Central Asia, while the product does not have time to reach the Middle East with a sufficient remaining shelf life. According to Mr. Davleev, the development of deep egg processing may be promising, but this requires significant investment and foreign equipment, the suppliers of which have stopped working with Russian companies.

Anatoly Kostyrev