Romanian farmland operator Holde buys 3,500-hectare farm in Calarasi

Romanian farmland operator Holde Agri Invest has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Agromixt Buciumeni, which operates a farm in Calarasi county. Through this deal, the company will double the surface of farmland managed from 3,500 hectares to 7,000 hectares.

The value of the transaction was EUR 5 million, according toZiarul Financiar.

In 2019, Agromixt had 21 employees, revenues of over EUR 4.1 mln, and a net profit of over EUR 1 mln.

The acquisition is a strategic investment for Holde Agri Invest, which will list its shares on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the coming months. The company raised over EUR 2 million from local investors through a private placement at the end of 2019, after drawing another EUR 5 mln in September.

“While in the next coming period, our priority will be integrating Agromixt into Holde and our business philosophy, we are already considering the next financing rounds that we plan to carry out on the Romanian capital market,” said Liviu Zagan, CEO at Holde Agri Invest.

The company aims to reach 20,000 hectares in the next ten years, with investments of EUR 50 mln, which will include investments in new machinery, storage facilities as well as modern irrigation systems.

Holde was created in 2016 by four Romanian entrepreneurs: Liviu Zagan, Robert Maxim, Matei Georgescu, and Alexandru Covrig. Local asset management company Certinvest joined them in 2017, and the first external financing came in 2018 from Vertical Severn Group, a fund established by Romanian entrepreneurs Iulian Circiumaru and Andrei Cretu.

Vertical Seven Group is the biggest shareholder of Holde, with a 19,6% stake, while remaining investors have holdings between 9% and 0,1%.

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