The Russian Agricultural Bank has resumed financing of EkoNiva Group in order to enable completion of the ongoing construction of three dairy facilities in Moscow oblast, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan with a total housing capacity of 9.9 thousand head and a total expected milk output of 100,000 tonnes per year, and implementation of a number of other projects in a high degree of completion.

The parties will also continue negotiations to find an optimal solution regarding the largest investment project of the Group – construction of a milk processing plant with a capacity of 1,150 tonnes per day in Maslyanino district, Novosibirsk oblast.

‘No EkoNiva Group company is in default of payments to the Russian Agricultural Bank or any of its affiliates. We have no intention to exercise any options in respect of shares of the holding companies. Besides, by 10 December, 2021, the bank undertakes to provide the documents requested to finalise the audit of the financial statements of the Group. The bank will remain the key strategic lender of the Group providing working capital financing within the existing loan limits’, commented Irina Zhachkina, first Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Agricultural Bank.

‘I am happy that in the course of a constructive dialogue, the teams of Rosselkhozbank and EkoNiva have managed to resolve this situation. In its turn, Ekosem-Agrar and other claimants, will abstain from filing an appeal to contest the ruling of Voronezh Arbitration Court on rejecting the application for annulment of the option agreements and withdraw all respective claims being currently processed by Voronezh Arbitration Court. With the support of the systemic financial institution of the Russian agricultural sector, EkoNiva will keep on supplying high-quality dairy products to Russian people creating comfortable working conditions in rural areas, taking care of animals and preserving nature’, affirmed Stefan Duerr, EkoNiva Group President.

During the cooperation between EkoNiva and AO ‘Rosselkhozbank’, the bank has taken part in 31 projects implemented by the group with a total budget of around 93,7 billion rub.