Estonia’s largest dairy farm at the mercy of Swedbank
23.02.2011, 09:28Investment banker Joakim Helenius may soon find itself owner of Estonia’s largest dairy farm Väätsa Agro that owes millions to Swedbank. Instead of restructuring the ailing agribusiness, the bank is seeking to declare it bankrupt.
Helenius is believed to be interested in the bankruptcy of Väätsa Agro instead of restructuring it since otherwise he would have to reach agreement also with the current majority owner, a US fund Hanseatic Capital which is supporting the restructuring plan.
The only way to rescue the value and livestock of Väätsa Agro in the situation where it has no money is for Swedbank to find a new owner, says Helenius himself. He adds that the company’s main business is its livestock and it is a time-sensitive business.
This is not the first time that Helenius is seeking to control the dairy farm that has about 2,000 dairy cows. A few years ago he made a similar attempt through his Trigon Agri in which Helenius owns a majority stake.
Trigon Agri itself is no small fish – the company is headquartered in Copenhagen, its share are listed on the Stockholm bourse and it owns 170,000 hecatres of land in Estonia, Ukraine and Russia.
The parties interested in Väätsa Agro say it’s hard to put a pricetag on it, but some informed sources claim it is worth 6 million euros or about as much as it owes Swedbank.
The fate of Väätsa Agro that has 140 employees and is one of the largest employers in the region is entirely in the hands of Swedbank that owns mortgages for most of the company’s real estate and commercial pledges on its other assets.
Väätsa Agro that ended 2009 with a loss of 140 million kroons now owes at least 190 million kroons or 12 million euros.