Moscow, August 27, 2021 – Gazprombank and Cherkizovo Group signed a loan agreement aimed at financing the construction of an automated high-tech production facility for the slaughtering of pigs and processing of pork meat in Tula Region.
Total investments in the project will amount to RUB 48 bln, including RUB 40.8 bln to be provided by Gazprombank in the form of a line of credit for a term of 12 years. The deal was structured on project finance principles within the framework of a preferential lending program for agricultural producers introduced by the RF Ministry of Agriculture.
The creation of a pig-slaughtering and pork-processing facility in Tula Region will let Cherkizovo Group ramp up its business volume in the segment for intensive meat-processing and the production of high value-added goods to 500K tons of meat products annually. That said, Tula Region stands to gain more than 2,000 additional highly paying jobs.
“Implementation of such a sweeping project in partnership with one of the leaders of the country’s agrarian sector represents a new level in the development of long-term cooperation between Gazprombank and Cherkizovo Group. We’re confident that our expertise and wealth of experience financing the agribusiness sector will facilitate the successful implementation of this project,” emphasized Timur Belikov, Executive Vice President – Department Head, Project and Structured Finance Department, at Gazprombank.
“Cherkizovo Group is a leader of the country’s meat industry, and we are pleased to be taking part in the creation of this new production facility, which is sure to strengthen the group’s positions on the Russian market,” noted Gennady Koptyaev, Vice President – Branch Manager, Central Black Earth Branch of Gazprombank (Joint Stock Company).
“The pig-slaughtering and pork-processing plant will become part of Russia’s largest meat-processing cluster being created by the company in Tula Region. And it’s very gratifying that this project will be implemented with the support of Gazprombank – our longstanding partner that has consistently proven its reliability,” commented Irina Kondratova, Head of the Treasury, Corporate Financing and Reporting Division at Cherkizovo Group.
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Background:
Gazprombank ranks among the TOP 3 leaders of the Russian banking sector by main volume indicators (according to INTERFAX-100. Banks of Russia) as well as among the largest financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe.
Gazprombank provides a wide range of services to corporate and private clients. The bank provides services to key sectors of the Russian economy – gas, oil, chemical and petrochemical, metallurgy, electric power, mechanical engineering, transport, construction, communications, agribusiness, trade and other industries. The bank boasts many years of unique experience in the arrangement of project financing and placement of debt instruments on the Russian and international capital markets, the provision of financial and advisory services involving project, corporate and debt financing, as well as experience in the field of corporate investment management both in Russia and abroad.
Gazprombank’s retail business is focused on providing modern high-tech products and services. As of the beginning of 2021, the Bank was providing services to roughly 5 mln individual customers. The Bank’s retail loan portfolio as of year-end 2020 stood at more than RUB 660 bln, with a retail deposit portfolio in excess of RUB 770 bln.
Cherkizovo Group is Russia’s largest diversified manufacturer of meat products. The group is one of the top 3 leaders on the chicken meat, pork and meat-processing markets.
The company owns seven complexes for the production of chicken meat (and a Belaya Ptitsa manufacturing facility used by the group on a leasehold basis), sixteen modern pig farms, eleven meat-processing enterprises, nine feed mills, twelve elevators, a land bank spanning a total area of 300K ha and a full-cycle complex for turkey-meat production in Tambov, controlled and operating as a joint venture with Grupo Fuertes, one of the leaders of the Spanish agricultural and food sectors.
Vertical integration lets the group link the cultivation and storage of grain crops, the production of compound feed, the breeding, fattening and slaughtering of cattle and poultry, meat processing and distribution throughout Russia into a single chain to ensure long-term sales growth and profitability.
Shares of Cherkizovo Group are traded on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX).