EBRD to buy stock in Danone Industria - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Eurofood, July 19, 2001

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to acquire a minority stake in Danone Industria for US$21m (24.8m [European Dollar]), the Bank reported in a press release. The EBRD did not specify the size of the stake, but the press release noted it would be "one of the EBRD's largest equity investments in Russia to date."

The EBRD hopes the transaction will "encourage the restructuring of the Russian agricultural sector by providing stable demand, financing and know-how transfer to the farmers that supply Danone Industria."

Under a US$100m multi-project facility the EBRD and the French group Danone have already jointly invested in four companies in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

Danone has been working in Russia since 1992, and now owns a plant in Tolyatti and another in the Chekhov region outside Moscow. The company buys its materials from Russian dairy farms into which it has invested US$4m, and plans a further US$1m. Danone works with ten such farms in each of the two areas. Company specialists estimate that Danone products occupy 8% of Russia's dairy product market.