Sintal to increase land bank by third by 2013

Kyiv, October 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sintal Agriculture agribusiness, a large agricultural producer in Ukraine, is to increase its land bank by at least a third to 200,000 hectares from 150,000 hectares, according to Sintal Agriculture Director General Vadym Mohyla.

"We're in talks [on an increase in the company's land bank]. These talks are not easy, but I think they're very efficient, and the increase is expected by 50,000-70,000 hectares," he said during a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

He expressed hope that the deal might be completed by the end of 2012, however, he did not disclose other participants in the talks.

As was reported, Sintal Agriculture early in October 2011 finalized a deal on the merger of the Agrika agricultural company (Kherson region), which is part of the investment portfolio of Icon Private Equity. After the deal, the agribusiness' land bank increased by 1.5 times, to 150,000 hectares.

Sintal Agriculture was set up in 2008. Its parent company is Kharkiv-based Sintal D LLC research and production firm, which has been operating in Ukraine since 1992. It cultivates wheat, maize, sunflower seeds, barley, sugar beet, buckwheat, soybeans, peas, and other crops. It owns two sugar refineries, a pig farm, and 16 agribusinesses.

Sintal Agriculture in 2008 carried out the private placement of 15% of its shares worth $34.5 million. Concorde Capital was its financial advisor. Sintal Agriculture on October 20, 2009, effected a private additional placement of 17.2% of shares worth $13 million. The price of the placement was $2.28 per depositary receipt, which corresponds to a company market capitalization of $75 million. BG Capital was its advisor then.

According to the company, 53% of its shares belong to businessman Mykola Tolmachev, 8% to Vadym Mohyla, 2% to the top management, and 36% to institutional investors.