Al Dahra announced today that a contract has been signed for the purchase of the property of PKB Corporation and its subsidiaries in Serbia through a property sale model. Acquisition is the result of the decision of the Republic of Serbia to privatize PKB Corporation and the announcement of the public tender in August 2018.
Al Dahra is an international corporation specializing in agribusiness, which has as many as 400,000 acres (160,000 hectares) of agricultural land on four continents. It consists of various companies operating in the processing, dairy and milling industry, as well as developed global trading capacities. By including PKB into the existing portfolio, Al Dahra gets a great opportunity to strengthen its position in Europe and provide further development of the company’s business in the dairy segment.
The business that Al Dahra takes over from PKB Corporation includes several different activities in the field of agriculture and food sector. Al Dahra will cultivate more than 17,500 hectares of agricultural land on 8 farms strategically located near the center of Belgrade, where the company plans to cultivate various crops including sugar beet, sunflower, wheat, corn, barley, feed mixture and several types of vegetables. In addition, Al Dahra will take over the management of dairy and livestock production that supply the milk and meat industry in Serbia. PKB currently produces about 55 million liters of raw milk annually, with a herd of about 17,000 cattle of dairy and meat breeds. Dairy has 7 production facilities, including stables and muzzle capacities.
As part of the transaction, Al Dahra undertook to invest 30 million euros in the next three years in the improvement of PKB Corporation’s business, further development of irrigation systems and modernization of milk production capacities. Al Dahra plans to invest an additional 15m euros in the optimization of PKB Corporation’s operations and its capacities in order to achieve higher yields and a higher level of milk quality.
Vice President and co-founder of Al Dahra, HE. Kadim Al Darei stated on the occasion of signing a purchase contract for the takeover of PKB Corporation: “The inclusion of PKB in our existing portfolio strengthens the position of Al Dahra in Serbia and our regional presence in Europe. At the same time, this investment completes our vertical integration strategy, providing the Group with the opportunity to further develop its business in agricultural, dairy and livestock production. Al Dahra highly appreciates the knowledge and expertise of PKB employees and are very committed to continuing the tradition of this company, as well as to maintaining the very important role of PKB in the supply of Serbian citizens. We believe that the privatization of the PKB and the investment of Al Dahre in the disinflation of existing capacities and infrastructure will significantly contribute to the commercialization and internationalization of Serbian agriculture, with the benefit of Serbian farmers, traders and the entire agricultural sector in Serbia. We look forward to further strengthening our ties with Serbia and the Serbian people through the realization of new investments. ”
Al Dahra will work together with the relevant institutions of the Republic of Serbia to finalize the transaction and transfer of property in the upcoming period in order for the transition to be carried out according to the plan in the interest of all involved parties.
