Continental Farmers Group admission to AIM

Eastern Europe-focused farming business Continental Farmers Group (CFG) has raised £14.8 million and admitted shares to trading on AIM and ESM. Niraj Patel headed the team at Saffery Champness, reporting accountant for the admission.

CFG, led by founder and CEO Mark Laird, currently produces crops including oil seed rape, sugar beet, potatoes and maize in both Poland and the Ukraine, and is hoping to use the proceeds to expand its land bank in the Ukraine to over 50,000 hectares within the next five years.

Patel comments: ‘The company was an existing client of our Edinburgh office, during which time CFG grew significantly. Saffery Champness was involved in assisting the company in preparing for an AIM admission.

‘The transaction involved working to tight deadlines, with the fundraising and admission needing to be completed by the end of June to enable key management of CFG to refocus on the business once harvesting commenced.’

‘Saffery Champness was able to utilise its international network (Nexia International) to assist on specific accounting and tax matters within Ukraine and Poland,’ Patel adds.

Todd Cardy

Todd was Editor of GrowthBusiness.co.uk between 2010 and 2011 as well as being responsible for publishing our digital and printed magazines focusing on private equity and venture capital. More by Todd Cardy