Ukraine allows companies to set up poultry joint venture in Saudi Arabia
MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee has allowed Desert Hills Veterinary Services Company Limited (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and MHP SE (Limassol, Cyprus) to set up a joint venture in Riyadh, Ukrainian media said, citing the committee press service.
As reported, the MHP agricultural holding, Ukraine's biggest poultry producer, signed a shareholder agreement in September 2023 to set up a joint venture with Desert Hills Veterinary Services Company Limited (DHV), a subsidiary of Tanmiah Food Company, a leading supplier of poultry and other meat products in the Middle East, listed on the Saudi stock market.
"This partnership will allow DHV and MHP to join forces and invest more than 200 million Saudi riyals (about $53 million at the current exchange rate) in farms with a capacity of more than 1 million breeder flocks, which are expected to produce approximately 175 million hatching eggs per year, in addition to a modern incubator and a poultry feed mill," MHP said on the London Stock Exchange.
DHV will hold a 55% stake in the joint venture, and 45% will belong to MHP.
Tanmiah Food Company is a leading supplier of poultry and other meat products in the Middle East, listed on the Saudi stock market. The company was founded in 1962. Its business model combines businesses in agriculture, primary processing and marketing of products sold in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Kuwait. Tanmiah Food Company is the master franchisee of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
As of June 30, 2023, Tanmiah operates 114 farms, as well as six hatcheries, two feed mills and four primary processing plants (slaughterhouses). It sells its products through a network of wholesalers, retailers and food service outlets, as well as through its e-commerce platform.
The MHP agricultural holding is the largest poultry producer in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of grains, sunflower oil, and meat products. MHP supplies the European market with chilled half-carcasses of chickens, which are processed at its enterprises in the Netherlands and Slovakia among others. The holding completed the acquisition of the Slovenian company Perutnina Ptuj in February 2019.
In 2021, MHP posted $393 million consolidated net profit against $133 million net loss in 2020, while its revenue increased by 25% to $2.37 billion. For the nine months of 2022, the agricultural group posted $269 million net loss, against $377 million profits in January-September 2021, and its revenue increased by 14% to $1.88 billion.
In the first quarter of 2023, MHP's revenue increased to $745.60 million, by 34.7% up from the first quarter of 2022, while net profit stood at $49.07 million against $108.25 million (while exchange rate profit amounted to $4.18 million against exchange rates losses $95.32 million).
Ukrainian businessman Yury Kosyuk is the MHP founder, majority shareholder and board chairman.