Bulgarian sunflower oil producer Oliva has acquired the Kaliakra oilseeds processing plant from local company Kaliakra, specialised news outlet CEE Legal Matters reported on Wednesday.
“The assets subject to the deal included approximately 140,000 square meters of land and over 85 separate buildings and storage. This expansion has cost Oliva AD an estimate of over $2.3 million,” CEE Legal Matters quoted law firm Tokushev & Partners, which advised Oliva on the deal, as saying.
Kaliakra was acquired by oilseed processing giant Bunge in 2003. Following a restructuring of Bunge’s operations in the region, production activities at the Kaliakra plant in Dobrich, in nortestern Bulgaria, were discontinued in 2007. Since then, only the storage facilities at the plant were utilised, while production of sunflower oil under the Kaliakra brand was moved to Romania.
Earlier this year, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) said that Oliva has signed a 90 million euro ($105.8 million) syndicated loan agreement with a group of international commercial banks.
“This facility will help us to consolidate our position and bolster our strategic growth,” Angel Georgiev, CEO of Oliva, said at the time.
Bulgaria is one of the largest sunflower oil exporters globally.