Ovostar notifies Polish regulator of squeeze-out plans

MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - The Ovostar Union agriculture holding, one of Ukraine's leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products, has notified the Polish regulator of the intention of its majority owners to buy out 4.55% of the company's shares owned by minority shareholders, Ukrainian media reported, quoting a company filing with the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Ovostar first plans to announce a tender for the voluntary repurchase of shares, and then a squeeze-out in respect of shares whose holders have not responded to the tender offer, in accordance with Cypriot law and with the prior approval of the Cyprus Securities Commission and exchanges - the group's holding company is Ovostar Union Public Company Limited, registered in Cyprus.

The company confirmed that a voluntary tender offer was planned at PLN 70 per share or $17.4 at the current, brokered by Polish company Ipopema Securities.

Ovostar Union majority shareholders CEO Boris Belikov and member of the board of directors Vitaly Veresenko, who own 65.93% of the shares via the Cyprus-registered Prime One Capital Limited, said on April 22 that they, together with the Canadian financial company Fairfax Financial Holdings, had accumulated 95.45% of the agricultural holding's shares and decided to buy the remaining 4.55%.

The buyout announcement boosted Ovostar's share price by 8.56% to PLN 71, but this has since fallen to PLN 67.8.

Ovostar boosted net profit 12.2-fold year-on-year in January-September 2023 to $29.08 million. Revenue grew 36.3% to $123.06 million thanks largely to higher prices for the company's products. The holding has not yet published results for 2023.

The group's holding company, Ovostar Union N.V. carried out an IPO for 25% of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in June 2011, raising $33.05 million.

Another large Ukrainian agricultural holding, Kernel, as well as its majority shareholder and chairman of the board of directors, Andrei Verevsky, said last year they intended to delist from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. However, it has not yet been possible to consolidate the 95% of shares required for this with the process delayed by resistance from minority shareholders, some of whom went to court.