Ukraine's Horizon invests US$40 million in Agro-Soyuz

Horizon Capital, a Ukrainian private company, has acquired a share in the agricultural corporation, Agro-Soyuz, worth US$40 million.

The investment is Horizon's first since the onset of the financial crisis, and the second from its US$390 million Emerging Europe Growth Fund II, which closed in 2008, and will be used by Agro-Soyuz to expand its business activities and restructure debt.

Horizon Capital's co-managing partner Natalie Jaresko said, ''Agro-Soyuz stands out as a leader among Ukrainian agricultural enterprises as a result of its commitment to the advancement of state-of-the-art agricultural technologies and farming techniques in the Ukrainian market.

''We are pleased to back our newest partners and look forward to supporting the company in helping Ukraine realise the full potential of its agricultural sector,'' she added.

Agro-Soyuz operates four lines of business across the agricultural sector. The corporation manufactures agricultural equipment, has a 20% market share of the agricultural equipment spare parts and servicing sector, farms 11,000 hectares of vertically-integrated pork production, and provides business solutions for farming and pork production.

Serhiy Prokayev, founder and director of Agro-Soyuz, said, ''Our partnership with Horizon Capital is a key to our expansion and will help us to accelerate our growth further as the nation's leading agricultural supplier and manufacturer."

Horizon targets mid-cap investments in Ukraine, Belarus and other emerging European markets.