Holde Agri Invest, a Romanian company that operates farmland, announces a new investment at the level of its farms by building a silo with a storage capacity of 10,000 tons at the Frumusani farm in Calarasi county. With a value of 8 million lei, this investment increases Holde's total storage capacity to 25,000 tons.

"Holde is at a dynamic stage in its evolution. Every year, we target the expansion of the operated farmland and the development of existing farms because agriculture in Romania is at a stage where it requires massive modernization investments. The Frumusani investment represents another goal assumed and accomplished by us. At the same time, we are glad that we completed the works in record time so that we can already store part of the harvest of the current agricultural year in the new silo. In the medium and long term, the entire storage project at Frumusani will bring several benefits, such as operational stability in relation to the choice of grain sale period and flexibility in negotiating with grain traders. Also, we expect to amortize quite quickly the financial effort made to build the silo, considering that we will be able to obtain added value from the late or opportunistic sale of goods," stated Liviu Zagan, CEO of Holde Agri Invest.

The Frumusani silo is located in Buciumeni and consists of four cells with a storage capacity of 2,500 tons each. The construction took place over an extremely short period, 11 months, and the company refinanced approximately 85% of the related expenses through the syndicated loan contracted in May of this year with Banca Transilvania and OTP Bank Romania.

The farm's location also has a strategic advantage, as it is close to the national road number 4, making it easy to reach the port of Constanța or Oltenita, and it has easy access from Bucharest, where Holde's headquarters is located, the company says.

The Frumusani investment represents the project's first phase of developing the storage capacities within this farm. The company is preparing to start the second stage of development in the following period, which aims to build five new cells of 500 tons each, install a seed selection and treatment station, and storage halls.

Since its listing on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in October 2020, Holde Agri Invest has constantly invested in the development of the company and its operations. The investments made so far amounted to over 155 million lei and were financed from equity and borrowed capital. The investments targeted the expansion of the farmland and modernization of the existing farms by purchasing state-of-the-art machinery, implementing irrigation systems, and expanding storage capacities.

At the level of its farms, Holde also owns a silo with a capacity of 15,000 tons based in Calinesti, within the Rosiori farm.

Recently, the company announced the approval by the Board of Directors of a new share capital increase of up to 40 million lei. Through the share capital increase, Holde aims to continue implementing the company's development plans, such as expanding through the acquisition of new farms and implementing the current investment plan, but also to secure the additional working capital needed for long-term production storage.

Currently, Holde operates a total farmland of approximately 13,200 hectares divided into four core farms - Rosiori, about 3,830 ha, Frumusani, approximately 3,720 ha, Videle, about 2,300 ha and Contesti, approximately 3,350 ha, thus being in the top four agricultural companies with domestic capital in terms of operated area.

Holde Agri Invest shares are listed on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange as of October 1, 2020, and are traded under the stock symbol HAI. Currently, the company has a market capitalization of approximately 117 million lei.