Agricorp Invest, a unit of Monaco-based Monaco Resources, has acquired a majority stake in Bonum – a Macedonia-based mushroom and vegetable processor for an undisclosed amount.
The brownfield investment will be conducted through Agricorp Invest’s wholly owned subsidiary, Agri Food Invest Luxembourg which develops and operates agricultural and food ventures in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Founded in 1992, Bonum is a privately held company that has the capacity to process 10,000 tons of champignons and vegetables per year, according to Gmdu.net. The company supplies both the domestic market and exports to the company’s main foreign markets of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Romania, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the U.S., and Australia.
Output at the processing facility is expected to be doubled, while 100 new jobs are expected to be created as a direct result of the investment according to ruling party leader and former Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, reports See News.
Political unrest in Macedonia caused foreign direct investment in the country to plummet to €157 million (US$175 million) in 2015 – a year on year decline of 23.5 percent. However, in the first half of this year, the country saw an increase in foreign direct investment of 12.1 percent, reaching €122.9 million (US$137 million) according to central bank data released on August 31 reports IntelliNews. This increase is being attributed to initiatives enacted by the government to attract more foreign investors including more investment-friendly conditions in the country’s free industrial zones.
Despite these efforts, political unrest continues to negatively affect the country’s financial strength as Fitch Ratings downgraded Macedonia from ‘BB+’ to ‘B’ and real GDP growth slowed to 2 percent year on year in the first quarter 2016.
However, there is cause for optimism according to IntelliNews, as on August 31 all four of the country’s political parties agreed to hold early elections on December 11 of this year.
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Lynda Kiernan
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