Sucden denies plans to sell Russian business - company

MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - France's largest sugar producer, Sucden said it does not intend to leave Russia and has no plans to sell its Russian business.

"We state officially: the report about plans to sell Russian subsidiaries is not true. There are no such plans," Sucden's Russian division, SDS LLC said in response to "publications in the press about supposed negotiations on a sale."

"The company continues to operate normally, steadily implementing its approved strategy for development on the Russian market. Our priority is the sustainability of the business, fulfillment of obligations and long-term cooperation with customers and partners," the statement said.

Sugar industry association Soyuzrossakhar also reported Sucden's Russia chief Etienne Pelletier as saying that the "company does not intend to sell its Russian assets."

Newspaper Izvestia reported on Friday that Gazprombank plans to buy Sucden's Russian assets. This refers to four sugar refineries with combined production of more than 800,000 tonnes of white sugar per year, and more than 250,000 hectares of farmland, which experts value at 50 billion-65 billion rubles.

Sucden owns the Dobrinsky and Yeletsky sugar refineries in Russia's Lipetsk Region, the Atmis refinery in Penza Region and the Tbilissky refinery in Krasnodar Territory.