Canada's Fairfax increases share in Ukrainian Ovostar to 17.5%

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - Canadian financial company Fairfax Financial Holdings has increased its stake in the Ukrainian agricultural holding Ovostar Union to 17.499% from 10.39%, Ukrainian media reported, citing information from Ovostar.

The deal was completed on June 30. As a result, Fairfax's stake increased to 1.49492 million shares from 623,400 shares.

The Allianz OFE pension fund, which owned 311,443 shares, announced a deal earlier to sell a 5.19% stake in Ovostar, and did so on June 30. The last time Fairfax significantly increased its stake in Ovostar was in March 2021 when it increased ownership to 10.39% from 5.35%.

Quotes for Ovostar on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since the start of trading on Tuesday rose 2.7% to PLN 56.5 per share ($14.08 at the current exchange rate). At the close of trading on June 30, the price of one share was PLN 45.2.

Ovostar is a vertically integrated group, one of the leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products in Ukraine. The group's holding company is Ovostar Union N.V. in June 2011, it held an IPO of 25% of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and raised $33.05 million. In total, 6 million shares are in circulation.

Ovostar earned $8.98 million in net profit in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $16.44 million net loss in the same period in 2022. Revenue increased 70.7% to $47.30 million.

Ovostar ended 2022 with $6.09 million in net profit, which is 3.7 times more than in 2021. Its revenue increased 1.7% to $135.63 million.

According to Ovostar WSE report, at the end of March 2023, its majority shareholder was Prime One Capital Limited with 67.93%, and controlled by the general director of the agricultural holding Boris Belikov and the chairman of the board of directors Vitaly Veresenko. In addition, Generali Otwarty Fundusz Emerytalny owned 10.93%, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited 9.09% and Aviva Otwarty Fundusz Emerytalny 5.02%.