Invest IQ 22 June 2012
Speaking of Russia, year 2012 seems to be the “Year of Health” at EBRD. Two of their investments targeted the area of healthcare, which is taken here in its broadest sense: as meaning medical services and products but also as a preventive, healthy lifestyle initiative.
Earlier this year, in a transborder transaction, the EBRD has agreed to acquire a 15 percent stake in private Russian company Katren, a holding firm for the pharmaceutical distribution industry operating in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine. The group also owns a retail chain of pharmacies in Russia. The investment was bagged in exchange for newly issued voting shares (ordinary) and will be used to increase Katren‘s warehousing facilities as well as for potential acquisitions in the Russian and other Central and Eastern European markets. The majority of Katren’s revenue is generated from the Russian market (more than 85 percent). The purchase will give EBRD a strong portfolio company in the domestic Russian market that is recognized as the most cost-effective as well as efficient pharmaceutical distributor in the CIS.
Now, another company has been added to the EBRD investments string with a USD 10 mln funding of Belaya Dacha, Moscow’s premier pre-cut and packaged salads producer. The investment fetched European Bank for Reconstruction and Development a 9.91 percent stake in the company. Belaya Dacha services major retail and fast-food outlets such as McDonald’s, Auchan and the X5 Retail Group in and around the Moscow region. The funds will be used to set up a new processing facility in the Southern part of Russia. The growing demand for freshly-cut pre-packaged salads is a major driving factor in their expansion. The new facility will serve the regions of the Volga and Ural Federal Districts, and another facility is being planned for St. Petersburg by 2014. Both plants will be able to process 10,000 tonnes of food per annum.