Holde Agri Invest acquires a new farm in Călărași County

Holde Agri Invest SA, a Romanian company operating farmland, announces the acquisition of a new farm in Călărași County, near the core farm of Frumușani. The farm has an area of 230 hectares of land, fully leased and the value of the transaction amounts to 2 million lei. The price paid by Holde includes the crops for the current year – wheat, sunflower, corn. Holde will also collect the production and the related APIA subsidies for this year.

“The expansion of farmland is a key objective in Holde’s development strategy. Thus, in addition to the recently completed transaction, during this period, we are engaged in a series of discussions and negotiations on the purchase of three more farms, which have a total area of over 3,000 hectares. If all the acquisition procedures are completed successfully, we will operate a total area of 13,000 hectares. However, we are cautious in the acquisition process. Whenever we consider purchasing a plot of land, we analyze many details that we know can make a difference. The most important are those related to the total cultivated area and the degree of soil compaction. Also, in addition to the acquisition of new farms, during this period, we continue investments in modernizing the existing farms in our portfolio by renewing the machinery fleet, building silos, and investing in irrigation systems. Expansion of land and modernization of existing farms are complementary activities within Holde because, in the absence of investment in technology, the quality of land can deteriorate rapidly,” stated Liviu Zagan, CEO of Holde Agri Invest.

The recently acquired farm is part of Holde’s plan to use the amount raised from investors following the share capital increase operation carried out in July this year to expand the land areas operated by the company. The 230 hectares of land are located near the core farm of Frumușani, which as a result of this transaction, reaches an area of 3,620 hectares of land. Holde currently owns three core farms, Roșiori, Frumușani, and Videle, which cover 9,500 hectares.

In terms of farm modernization investments, in mid-September, Holde launched the first irrigation project, which covers an area of 125 hectares in the Frumușani farm and is fuelled by the Dâmbovița River. The value of the investment was about 1.7 million lei and will increase the productivity of corn and soybean crops.

Starting with October 11, 2021, HAI shares will be included in the BET-AeRO index developed by the Bucharest Stock Exchange for the AeRO market. BET-AeRO will consist of 20 companies in this market, selected based on quantitative criteria, such as liquidity and free-float capitalization. Within this index, Holde will hold the second-largest share, respectively 12.17%.