The Russian agricultural company White Bird completed the largest acquisition in the history of the Russian poultry industry with the agreement to acquire the assets of the bankrupt poultry producer, Optifood, according to the deputy governor of Rostov, Sergey Gorban.
In the opinion of most experts the agreement will be important for the industry, as it will create a major new player in the Russian poultry market. "The deal was closed on September 25, when the parties signed the documents," said Gorban. According to him, the new investor assumed all obligations under the agreement - in particular, the construction of a feed mill with a capacity of no less than 120,000 tonnes of feed per annum, and an investment of at least USD$65 million in the launch of production of the assets of the old company.
Optifood went bankrupt in 2012, thanks to a large debt and the lack of turnover. The company was one of the largest producers of poultry in southern Russia, with total capacity of 85,000 tonnes of poultry per year.
The White Bird owns several agricultural business in the states of Belgorod and Kursk. With the acquisition of Optifood, the White Bird will become on of the top four largest poultry companies in Russia, after Cherkizovo, BEZRK Belgrankorm and HAP Resource. Total production is now somewhere around 200,000 with 92 million eggs per year.
