OREANDA-NEWS. On 25 June 2008 was announced, that Investment bank Dragon Capital has successfully completed a private placement valued at \\$90.1m for 20% of Ukrainian agribusiness Mriya Agro Holding Plc (Cyprus). The deal implies a market capitalization for Mriya of \\$450.5m.

Deal organizer Dragon Capital acted as the exclusive placement agent for Mriya Agro Holding with regard to the transaction, which involved the placement of 4.25 million Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) through The Bank of New York at a rate of 5 GDRs per company share. Each GDR is valued at \\$21.20, with trading in the GDRs to take place on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange beginning July 1.

More than 35 foreign investment funds and portfolio investors from Western Europe, the United States, Russia and Ukraine took part in the placement, which was two times oversubscribed.

Mriya Agro Holding has quickly emerged as one of Ukraine’s leading agribusinesses and will use the placement proceeds to bring the company’s total land holdings to 190,000 hectares (ha) by end-2008, as well as to further develop company infrastructure, such as constructing grain elevators and new equipment purchases for its farming operations in Western Ukraine.

“In preparation for the placement we conducted considerable preliminary work such as international financial audits for the past two years, legal due diligence relating to corporate issues and an audit of the company’s land bank,” said Dragon Capital Managing Director for Sales and Trading Dmytro Tarabakin. “Mriya’s equity placement has been a resounding success which has been achieved in difficult global market conditions. Over the last few weeks, we met with over 120 investment firms in all major global financial centers, their support and interest in this deal are a testimony to the unique quality of Mriya’s management and a recognition of Ukraine’s potential as one of the world’s leading agriculture powerhouses.”

Brian Best, managing director for investment banking at Dragon Capital, believes that the sector and the company clearly stand out in Ukraine.

“The agriculture sector remains one of the biggest ‘hot’ sectors of the year,” he said. “Regarding the success of Mriya Agro Holding, Dragon Capital and other advisers can confirm that the determining factors for investors were the company’s very real opportunity to generate revenue per hectare of land, which implies a high yield compared with its Ukrainian peers, plus its efficiency and cost management. As a result of these and other factors, Mriya Agro Holding has already become the absolute leader on the domestic market.”