Demetra-Holding, part of VTB Froup, has acquired 50% in Taman Grain Terminal Holdings Limited, which owns 100% in Taman Grain Terminal Complex, from Ukraine’s Kernel Holdings S.A.
The other 50% in the Taman grain business belongs to Glencore Agriculture via Renaisco B.V. Financial details of the deal are not disclosed.
The strategy of the Taman Grain Terminal envisages investing into the terminal capacity expansion including construction of a railway line to handle grain cargoes delivered by rail.
The current capacity of the Taman Grain Terminal is 3.5 mn tons per annum with a storage capacity up to 192 thousand tons. Grain is delivered to the terminal by road, the facility has no rail access.
According to SeaNews PORTSTAT analytic online service, in 2019 Taman Grain Terminal handled 2.2 mn tons, down 45% year-on-year.
VTB is developing a vertically integrated grain market player, now the bank’s assets include controlling shares in the Novorossiysk-based Novorossiysk Grain Terminal and Novorossiysk Kombinat Khlenoproduktov, the rail grain operator Rustranskom and the grain trader Mirogroup resursy. This March, VTB also acquired FESCO’s grain business.
Kernel made a decision to dispose of its assets in Russia after the Crimea returned to the Russian Federation. In 2019, the company sold its oil extraction plants in Russia.