Currently, CFG leases more than 25,000 hectares in western Ukraine. The company plans to expand its land bank in the country to 50,000 hectares over five years.
EBRD could become co-investor of ED&F Man in Ukraine
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering making an equity investment of up to $15.9 million in ED&F Man Ukraine Investments BV, to acquire a minority stake in the company and finance the purchase and installation of sugar beet processing equipment, reads a bank report.
The report says that the project is pending final review by the bank's board on July 24, 2012.
The report says that the project's cost is $69 million.
ED&F Man was established in London in 1787 and is now one of the leading agricultural commodities trading companies, present in 60 countries and specializing in the physical handling, processing, marketing and risk management of sugar, molasses and coffee.
In May 2012, Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee gave the green light to the establishment, by agribusinesses Continental Farmers Group (CFG, the Isle of Man) and ED&F Man Holdings, of a joint venture to produce sugar beets in Ukraine.
CFG will grow and supply sugar beets to a sugar refinery run by ED&F Man in Mykolaiv region.
Continental Farmers Group, a large company involved in primary agriculture in Ukraine and Poland, has been working on the Ukrainian market since 2006. Currently, CFG leases more than 25,000 hectares in western Ukraine. The company plans to expand its land bank in the country to 50,000 hectares over five years. It also owns storage facilities with a capacity of 78,000 tonnes.
