Litagra, one of the largest agricultural business groups, buys 100% of the shares of Noragra, a company operating in the Šakiai district, from Norwegian investors, thus expanding the group’s operations.
“We believe that the dairy production sector in Lithuania, which has deep traditions, has a lot of potential for growth, therefore we are constantly looking for attractive opportunities for the development of farms engaged in both crop and livestock production,” said Vaidas Navickas, Director of Litagra Agricultural Center.
Noragra works on about 1.7 thousand hectares of land and has 750 dairy cows. Prior to this transaction, which is planned to be completed with the permission of the Competition Council, the Litagra Group worked over 9,000 hectares of land and had a herd of 2,400 dairy cows.
The transaction is planned to be financed by Luminor Bank, which had already provided the Litagra Group with an additional EUR 12 million in financing for business development in primary agricultural production earlier this year. Together with previous loans, Luminor’s loan portfolio to the Litagra Group amounts to EUR 22 million.
“The agricultural sector is experiencing a rapid increase in the number of professional players who are aware of the complexity and technology-based transformation of this traditional sector and who are bold in undertaking large-scale projects. Bank capital plays the role of fuel for the business engine in such projects, and there will be more and more examples of long-term, large-scale cooperation between companies and banks in the agricultural sector, ”said Jonas Urbonas, Head of Business Banking at Luminor.
“We are pleased with the development of long-term cooperation with Luminor Bank and the fact that the bank has a deep understanding of agricultural business and a long-term approach,” said Mindaugas Bareišis, Head of Litagra Group.
The largest shareholders of Litagra are the company’s founder Gintaras Kateiva and the investment company Invalda INVL.