Motieka & Audzevicius has advised the Linas Agro Group on its sale of assets in Russia and Belarus to undisclosed buyers and exit from the Russian market.
According to Linas Agro, the deal announced on August 26, 2022, involves two Russian companies – OOO VitOMEK in Moscow and OOO VitOMEK in Tver – and one in Belarus – IOOO Belfidagro – with the buyers being companies registered in the Russian Federation, but by agreement of the parties, they are not disclosed. "The transactions, totaling EUR 7.5 million, are expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year," the company announced with the sale of Belfidagro being subject to the approval of the Belarusian competition authority.
According to the firm, "more than a year ago, with the acquisition of KG Group, Linas Agro Group became the indirect owner of companies in Russia and Belarus. The companies were prepared for sale, and the search for potential buyers started at the end of 2021."
“We had planned to sell companies in Russia and Belarus without a hurry; unfortunately, the situation has changed radically," commented Linas Agro Group Chairman of the Board Darius Zubas. "The war in Ukraine has disrupted negotiations with the buyers we already had. The process of finding buyers was restarted, and intensive negotiations with several buyers followed. We had no expectation that we would sell the companies on the terms we expected back in early 2022. Negotiations and fine-tuning the sale details took some time, so we are delighted to have finally completed this difficult phase.”
The company still owns one entity in Belarus with Zubas commenting: "One company in Belarus, OOO KLM, could not be sold together with the others as we could not find an interested buyer; thus, we are continuing our search for buyers."
The Motieka & Audzevicius team was led by Associates Laurynas Ramonas and Darius Amsiejus.
