February 15, 2016

Begun 26 years ago as a fertilizer trader, InterAgro SRL Zimnicea and InterAgro SA, two of the largest agribusiness companies in Romania, have been declared insolvent by the Teleorman Court at the request of several of InterAgro’s lenders and partners, according to Romania-Insider.

Black Sea Grain reports that InterAgro, owned by Ioan Niculae, who according to Forbes in 2015 was worth US$1.1 billion, is the largest agribusiness company in Romania with farms totaling 50,000 hectares, two vegetable oil plants, a network of grain silos, meat processing plants, and fertilizer plants. The group’s activities include crop production, oilseed and grain trading, food processing, trade, and fertilizer production.

InterAgro SRL posted an annual turnover of €355 million in 2014, and the holding company, InterAgro SA, posted 2014 revenues of €392 million, with combined cumulative losses in excess of €40 million.

The declaration of insolvency follows similar fates for other InterAgro businesses. Three of InterAgro’s six fertilizer plants – Ga-Pro-Co, Amurco, and Nitroporos went into insolvency in 2015, in addition to Bio Fuel, InterAgro’s ethanol plant, according to Black Sea Grain.

Additionally, InterAgro owner, Niculae, was convicted and sentenced in April of last year to two and a half years in jail on charges of bribery regarding the illegal funding of the 2009presidential campaign of Mircea Geoana of the PSD party, and is being investigated for tax evasion, money laundering, and ‘buying influence’.