MOSCOW, January 13 (RIA Novosti) – US agricultural trading giant Cargill has paid $200 million for a 5 percent stake in Ukraine’s largest agribusiness holding, the Financial Times reported Sunday.
The deal values Ukrainian billionaire Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s UkrLandFarming – the world’s eighth-largest cultivator of land and second-biggest egg producer, according to the Financial Times – at $4 billion.
Ukraine contains some of the world’s richest farmland, and the former Soviet country is likely to boost its exports to emerging markets, particularly China, in coming years, the Financial Times said.
Bakhmatyuk said last year that UkrLandFarming had pulled back from plans for an initial public offering, and would instead seek private investors, according to the Reuters news agency.
Cargill confirmed the purchase of the stake in UkrLandFarming, but said it was not seeking to control, manage or operate the business, the Financial Times reported.
