Elite Agro from Abu Dhabi among largest landowners in Serbia

The grain production company Elite Agro LLC, registered in Abu Dhabi, recently acquired the 100% ownership in Al Rawafed Holding, whereby it became the owner of 12,000 hectares of arable land in Serbia and one of the largest land owners in the country, Nova ekonomija reports.

As recently said in the decision on the concentration of the two companies, issues by the Commission for Protection of Competition of Serbia, the company’s main competitors are Matijevic Agrar, with around 30,000 hectares, Miodrag Kostic’s MK Group, with around 25,000 hectares, PKB, recently sold to another Arab company, Al Dahra, with around 18,000 hectares, Almeh, with 15,000 hectares, and Miroslav Miskovic’s Delta Agrar, with around 12,000 hectares.

The commission allowed the concentration arguing that it wouldn’t have a considerable impact on the two companies’ market share in the segment of the three main products. The data had been sent to the commission by Elite Agro.

On the Serbian market, Elite Agro is the 100% owner of Yugo Elite Agro, which owns Zobnatica in Backa Topola.

Al Rawafed in Serbia is a joint company of the Government of Serbia and the eponymous Arab company, which was formed several months before the Government of Serbia signed the deal on the sale of several Serbian farming combines with the Arab company.

This arrangement had previously been planned with Al Dahra, but was then switched to Al Rawafed.

Al Rawafed is well known to the Serbian public as the owner of the military property Morovic in Karadjordjevo, for which it allegedly didn’t pay rent to the state, Nova ekonomija says.

On around 10,400 hectares, Al Rawafed Serbia primarily grows wheat, corn, sunflower and soy. Of this, 2,586 hectares is their own land, and the rest is used under the contract on the business-technical cooperation and the lease contract, the commission’s decision reads.

Yugo Elite works 1,600 hectares of land through Zobnatica.

Yugo elite agro Beograd

AL Rawafed Srbija d.o.o. Beograd

Rawafed Group UEA

Komisija za zaštitu konkurencije Srbije

MK Group d.o.o. Beograd

Delta Agrar d.o.o. Beograd

Zobnatica a.d. Bačka Topola

Vlada Republike Srbije

PKB Korporacija a.d. Beograd

Al Dahra Srbija doo

IM Matijević d.o.o. Novi Sad

Almex doo Pančevo

Elite Agro LLC Abu Dhabi

Matijević Agrar

military property Morović Karađorđevo

consolidation of Arab land owners in Serbia