Former co-owner of Agro-Belogorye Group LLC liquidating Russky Metall company

BELGOROD. Dec 9 (Interfax) - The former owner of a 72.5% stake in Belgorod Region-based Agro-Belogorye Group LLC, Vladimir Zotov, is liquidating his JSC Russky Metall company that was involved in the legal proceedings between Agro-Belogorye Group and Rusagro Group .

Unified State Registry of Legal Entities (USRLE) data indicate that Russky Metall has been under liquidation since December 5, 2024. The sole participant, Zotov, reached the decision to liquidate on November 18. The company was registered in November 2022 in Moscow, and is primarily involved in the activity of holding companies.

Rusagro, Russia's largest vertically integrated agricultural holding, said that Russky Metall was involved in the legal proceedings between the holdings because Zotov sold a 25% stake in Agro-Belogorye Group LLC to JSC Russky Metall. Rusagro appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Belgorod Region to transfer the stake to it as per preemptive right.

Agro-Belogorye said that the information regarding Zotov selling the stake was not consistent with reality. The Arbitration Court of the Belgorod Region ruled in favor of Rusagro's claim, and the appellate court upheld the ruling, resulting in Rusagro's stake in Agro-Belogorye increasing to 47.5% as on September 27, with Zotov's stake dropping to 47.5% from 72.5%.

On November 13, Rusagro Group announced closing the deal to consolidate the 100% stake in Agro-Belogorye Group LLC, which followed the parties reaching a settlement agreement in another corporate dispute that Rusagro Group had also initiated. Rusagro had requested that the decisions reached at the general meeting of participants of Agro-Belogorye Group LLC on April 25, 2024, to which the plaintiff's representative was not admitted, be declared invalid. Rusagro owned 22.5% in Agro-Belogorye at the time. The settlement agreement was approved on December 3.

Consolidating Rusagro and Agro-Belogorye allows the combined group to be Russia's second largest pork producer. Agro-Belogorye includes 20 pig-breeding complexes, three feed mills, a meat processing plant, and a land bank.

Rusagro Group ranked third in pork production in Russia in 2023. The company produced 334,000 tonnes in live weight for slaughter, down 1% year-on-year.