Demetra Holding, part of VTB Group managing its grain assets has welcomed new shareholders. The strategic investors are Agronova founded Taimuraz Bolloev and Marathon Group founded by Alexander Vinokurov and Sergey Zakharov.
Agronova’s share makes 25%, Marathon Group acquired 24,999% in the company. VTB Group remains the owner of Demetra Holding with a share of more than 50%. According to the bank, the transactions with the new investors were monetary and were closed in April 2020.
The development plan for Demetra Holding envisages improving the efficiency and speed of domestic supply chains, creating conditions for transparent pricing of Russian grain in the domestic market, and modernizing infrastructure to promote the competitiveness of Russia’s agricultural produce in the global markets, according to VTB Group and Marathon Group.
VTB Group has been working to create a major player in the Russian grain market since summer 2018. As Andrey Kostin, head of the bank, said then, the group planned to continue its expansion and did not rule out construction of grain terminals in the Black Sea.
The starting point for establishing a vertically integrated grain operator was the acquisition of 22.25% in the Novorossiysky Kombinat Khleboproduktov (NKKhP), one of the largest grain terminals in southern Russia, in summer 2018. Later, VTB increased its share in NKKhP to 33.7%.
Next winter, VTB became the owner of a 50% minus 1 share stake in United Grain Company. In spring 2019, VTB purchased Novorossiysk Grain Terminal for 35.5 bn rubles from Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port. Put together, Novorossiysk Grain Terminal and NKKhP account for about a quarter of Russia’s marine grain terminal capacity.
In August 2019 VTB bought 50% plus 1 share in the railway operator Rustranscom, which is owns a fleet of grain cars operated by Rusagrotrans, and a 70% share in the grain trader Mirogroup Resources. Finally, in March this year Demetra Holding, a VTB Group company, acquired a 50% stake in Taman Grain Terminal Holdings Limited, which owns 100% of Taman Grain Terminal Complex, from the Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel Holdings S.A.
According to grain market experts, at present the VTB subsidiary controls 18% of all grain handling terminal capacities in the Azov and Black Sea basin, which, in Rusagrotrans’ estimation, amount to 47.2 mn tons.
According to SeaNews PORTSTAT online service, during the first quarter of 2020, the Russian ports in the Azov and Black Sea basin handled about 9.1 mn tons of grain (up 15.6% year-on-year), including more than 7.9 mn tons of export designated grain, up 13.7% year-on-year.