Illustrative photo – Agrofert headquarters in Prague on a picture taken on December 28, 2018.
Brussels – The European Commission (EC) has approved the intention of the Agrofert group from the trust funds of former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to take over the fertilizer production division of the Austrian chemical company Borealis. The Commission has come to the opinion that the transaction will not in any way distort competition in the European Economic Area, it states in its communication.
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“Based on its market investigation, the Commission found that the transaction will not significantly reduce competition in the markets for nitrogen fertilizers, the non-toxic AdBlue liquid used as an exhaust fluid for diesel engines, and technical nitrogen products such as aqueous ammonia and weak nitric acid,” the EC said. According to her, the transaction does not cause any concerns in connection with the distribution of nitrogen fertilizers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Austrian company, which is part of the OMV group, already stated in a press release last year that Agrofert offered 810 million for the takeover euros (19.2 billion CZK). Borealis originally wanted to sell its fertilizer division to the Russian concern EuroChem for 455 million euros. However, it fell out of this agreement due to Western sanctions against Russia. A few months later, Agrofert won a new tender.
Holding Agrofert unites almost 200 companies. It operates in the chemical industry, agriculture and food industry. In addition, it owns forestry companies and also does business in land technologies and engineering, logistics, transport and the media. Until February 2017, Agrofert was owned by the chairman of the ANO movement, then a member of the government and later prime minister, Andrej Babiš, who put his shares into trust funds due to the Conflict of Interest Act. However, according to the State Registry of Beneficial Owners, Babiš is the real owner of the holding, and still controls it according to the European Commission's audit.
