When it comes to going global, Kishinev sometimes manages to take everybody by surprise. The leading seed producer in the Republic of Moldova, Millagro, is set for an $8.25m takeover by the US-based Trezac, listed on Nasdaq.
Millagro is the second Moldovan company to make it to Nasdaq, after the leading winemaker of the country, Asconi, went public on this market in 2001.
"The connection with the American company came as part of our business relations. The majority shareholders of Trezac are American investors and our management has to come hold stakes in Trezac, as well," Iurie Bordian, general manager and co-founder of Millagro told Ziarul Financiar. As soon as the acquisition is over, Bordian will become Trezac's chief financial officer.
Trezac is an US-based company that buys controlling interests in firms it deems as well managed, profitable and undervalued, the presentation of the American company reads.
Millagro is but the beginning for the Americans. Trezac is currently negotiating other possible acquisitions of companies in the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, whose total assets amount to $130 million, while sales stand at $100 million.
"We are in talks with Romanian consumer goods producers, but I cannot say more," Iurie Bordian said. Millagro, which mainly sells cereal seeds, also produces flour and fodder and posted $3.5 million turnover in 2001. Established in 1995, the company started developing around a cereal storage base.
"When I established Millagro in 1995, I was hoping for the day when this company would take Moldova out of the shadow of the Soviet farming system. The inefficiency of the entire farming industry in the country and the weak competition allowed Millagro to attain a high-scale economy by renting large pieces of land," Bordian says. And he knows the economic history of the Republic of Moldova very well, as he was an investigator (economic and financial crimes) with the Prosecutor's Office of this country throughout 1985-1990. He later worked as an attorney and then as a controller with the State Control Department until 1994 when he moved on to the private sector.
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