The Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Co. (SALIC) announced the purchase of Ukraine’s Mriya, one of Ukraine’s biggest farming companies. The acquisition of Mriya gives SALIC control over 150,000 hectares of farmland in central and western Ukraine, as well as four grain elevators, two plants, a potato storage area, and equipment.

The Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) has acquired a large Ukrainian farming company Mriya Agro Holding, thus signing the largest contract in the agricultural sector in the history of Ukraine’s independence.”SALIC’s decision to buy Mriya Agro Holding is an extremely important event and demonstrates the willingness of foreign investors to invest money in Ukraine, dramatic changes in the investment climate and investors’ attitude towards our state,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at a ceremony on signing the contract between Mriya Farming PLC and SALIC. According to him, SALIC is the property of the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, and today it is one of the world’s largest investors in the field of agricultural business. The acquisition of Mriya gives SALIC control over 150,000 hectares of farmland in central and western Ukraine, as well as four grain elevators, two plants, a potato storage area, and equipment. The president emphasized that SALIC’s contract with Mriya is the largest contract, the largest purchase in the agricultural sector in the history of independent Ukraine. “This contract does not involve the purchase of Ukrainian land. It involves the purchase of Ukrainian assets, raising the level of investment in the Ukrainian agricultural sector and raising the level of technologies that are now coming to Ukraine,” Poroshenko said. The head of state added that these foreign investment would promote the increase of crop yield, export, receipt of foreign exchange earnings in Ukraine, and the creation of new high-paying jobs. Ukraine is Europe’s largest corn producer and Saudi Arabia is the world’s top barley buyer. The fertile soils of the Black Sea region and the area’s easy access to top grain and oil-seed importers in the Middle East have drawn SALIC’s interest. SALIC already manages about 45,000 hectares adjacent to the farms run by Mriya, and the acquisition would create one of Ukraine’s largest farming operations. SALIC seeks to get investment opportunities in countries that welcome foreign investments. The company works on implementing its ambitious strategy to enter partnerships with the governments, companies and specialized communities. SALIC is keen to invest in agricultural and livestock production projects in addition to following-up the implementation of these agreements with the global and local agricultural firms.