Federal Anti-monopoly Service permits Rusagro to buy Yug Sibiri holding

MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) has approved the application of Rusagro-Altai regarding the acquisition of Yug Sibiri or South of Siberia agro-industrial holding, stating that the deal would not limit competition on the markets for grain and sunflower oil, the watchdog said in a statement.

Rusagro-Altai, part of Rusagro Group , produces unrefined vegetable oils and their fractions.

Rusagro-Altai filed a petition in February with the FAS on obtaining preliminary consent to acquire the fixed production assets of Yug Sibiri LLC.

Yug Sibiri agro-industrial holding united three large oil extraction plants in Barnaul, Biysk, and the Omsk Region. The courts declared the agricultural holding's companies bankrupt in the spring of 2019. Promsvyazbank was the main bankruptcy creditor of the companies.

Maxim Basov, former CEO of Rusagro and current shareholder, had mentioned Rusagro's interest in Yug Sibiri's oil extraction plants at the time.

"Of course, we are very interested in the assets of Yug Sibiri. We have repeatedly stated this, and we have already submitted two applications. Unfortunately, PSB Bank is not selling these assets yet. Of course, if an auction is announced for the third time, we will apply for the third time; and, naturally, we are very interested in buying new plants," Basov said in August last year.

The previous month, in July, two auctions were to have been held in order to sell the agricultural holding's industrial complexes in the Altai Territory and Omsk Region, with a starting price of 3.9 billion rubles; however, they were canceled at the bank's request.