Oman's Southern Sea Investment to acquire stake in Demetra Holding - paper

MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - Oman's Southern Sea Investment LLC will acquire a stake in Russian export logistics and grain trading group Demetra Holding, business daily Vedomosti reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Demetra Holding confirmed this information, adding that the principal owner of the company that will acquire a stake in the group is an investment fund owned by Oman.

The size of the stake to be acquired by Southern Sea Investment has not been disclosed.

The paper's sources said the deal will have several stages, including a new share issue. Southern Sea Investment is not acquiring the stake from state bank VTB , which previously announced its exit from Demetra, but from the anchor investor in the new share issue.

VTB head Andrei Kostin said earlier in July that the bank had sold its stake of about 45% in Demetra. He did not name the buyer.

Demetra also did not name the buyer and said the "deal to change the shareholder structure is complex, multipart, taking place in several stages."

As of December 31, 2022, Demetra's other shareholders were Taimuraz Bolloyev's JSC Granum with 27.5%, SPN LLC (Alexander Vinokurov's Marathon Group) with 10.78% and JSC Valiansiya with 16.7%. The company declared Bolloyev as beneficiary owner in line with legal requirements.

Demetra Holding includes Russia's largest grain terminals: Novorossiysk Grain Terminal (100%), Novorossiysk Grain Processing Plant (35.36%) and Taman Grain Terminal Complex (50%). The group also owns 50% plus one share in JSC United Grain Company (UGC); 100% of freight rail operators Rusagrotrans, LP Trans, Gruzovaya Kompaniya and TransLes; 100% of agribusiness marketplace pole.rf and more than 75% of Smartseeds, a digital platform for grain shipping in Russia; and 100% of grain trader Demetra Trading, Oktyabrsky Elevator, Ipatovsky Grain Processing Plant and Dishninsky Elevator.