Trigon buys Estonian dairy
Trigon Agri has purchased the biggest dairy farm in Estonia. The Black Sea farm operator is also set “to announce a number of new acquisitions by the end of May” in dairy, of which the 4,160-hectare Vaatsa Agro business is the first. The deal adds Estonia’s largest dairy farm by quota, at 13.9m litres of milk a year, to a Trigon portfolio which already includes the 3,400-hectare Kaiu dairy farm next door, and a 1,970-hectare site near St Petersburg in Russia.
Vaatsa Agro, which has been struggling to pay back debts reported at €6m to Swedbank, was running a loss of around €9m in 2009. Trigon has acquired all claims against the farm lodged by Swedbank, and Hanseatic Capital Estonia, according to the compamy.
Vaatsa Agro comes with 4,160 hectares of land, of which 1,718 are in direct ownership, and a 3,386-strong dairy herd, of which 1,685 are milking cows.
