MOSCOW (Reuters) -Members of the Louis-Dreyfus family behind the eponymous global grain firm have sold their share of Russian agricultural firm RZ Agro to co-owner Steppe Agroholding, Interfax reported on Sunday, citing a source familiar with the deal.
“This is logical that Steppe took over RZ Agro, it was expected. The deal was closed some time ago, now the management has changed in the company. The ‘divorce’ with the French partners was amicable,” the source said.
The deal size was unknown but it was done at “a big discount”, the source told Interfax.
Steppe, owned by the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, declined to comment on the report, Interfax said.
The Louis-Dreyfus family members had been present in RZ Agro via Sierentz, a commodity investment firm.
While part of the same family with roots in France that developed and still controls Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), they have not been involved in the global agricultural commodity firm for years.
Sierentz did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside office hours.
RZ Agro controls, manages and cultivates agricultural land, focusing on grains and oilseeds production, and currently operates on an area of over 100,000 hectares of arable land in southern Russia, according to its website.
LDC, meanwhile, has been winding down operations in Russia since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
From July 1, 2023 LDC stopped exporting Russian grain like other multinational merchants and said it was assessing options for transferring its existing Russian business and grain assets to new owners.
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved late last year the acquisition by an unnamed buyer of 100% of the shares in a grain storage firm owned by LDC, a government document showed.
(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens and Giles Elgood)
