Moldova Farming owns part of the land and rents the rest, ZF has found. The deal is put at EUR12 million to EUR14 million judging from market data.
Moldova Farming’s owners are Comfert Agricultura (95%) and local entrepreneur Lucian Mugurel Florea (5%). In turn, Comfert Agricultura’s owners are Gabriela Grigoriu (95%) and Lucian Mugurel Florea (5%), according to publicly available data.
Information first surfaced about Comfert Agricultura about two years ago when Grigorius sold Comfert Bacau. Ireland’s Origin Enterprises announced in the summer of 2015 it had taken over farm input dealers Redoxim Timisoara and Comfert Bacau, two of the largest on their respective market. The buyer paid EUR19.4 million for Comfert and EUR35 million for Redoxim. Moldova Farming was not mentioned in connection with the deal, but the Irish buyer at the time said it was only taking over the farm input distribution and the logistics operation of Comfert.
Catalin Grigoriu, the founder of the business said the deal did not include Pambac Bacau, which Comfert bought along with agricultural commodity trader Popasul Trebes in 2012. Comfert’s stake in the milling and bakery company was transferred to Comfert Agricultura of the Grigoriu family, which works the 8,000 hectares of land.
Thomas Manns is now in talks to buy Moldova Farming, which grows cereals, leguminous crops and oilseeds. The company ended 2015 with 6.5 million lei (EUR1.4 million) revenue and more than RON4 million losses, according to the latest available data. The revenue halved year-on-year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)