Agroserv Mariuta SA, the company behind the Laptaria cu Caimac brand, has successfully closed its private placement of shares, raising 19.4 million lei, the equivalent of EUR 4 million. The shares will be listed on the Multilateral Trading System of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), marking the largest equity offering on this market to date.

The transaction was intermediated by BT Capital Partners, the investment banking and capital markets division of the Banca Transilvania Financial Group, acting as Intermediary and Authorised Advisor. Agroserv Mariuta was assisted in the listing process by Schoenherr, one of the international law firms operating in Romania since 1996, providing advisory services in areas such as financial services, energy, construction, retail and IT&C.

In the private placement totalling 19.4 million lei, the company offered for sale 431,020 newly issued shares (24.9% of total shares) at 45 lei per share, with the offer addressed to up to 150 investors. The placement was 3.6 times oversubscribed, with total subscriptions of approximately 70 million lei, while the maximum subscription per investor was capped at 1 million lei. Following the successful placement, the company is valued at approximately EUR 16 million.

Laptaria cu Caimac is the first dairy business to be listed on BVB’s AeRO market, after listing a EUR 3 million bond issue in November 2020, with a 5.25% coupon and maturing in 2025.

Adrian Cocan, Project Manager at Laptaria cu Caimac, said: “The company returned to investors’ radar through this private placement of shares, and we were pleased to see their growing interest. Everything went very well, the offer was oversubscribed and we are very happy that our plans for the future were received with enthusiasm. This is a second major step for us, after the bond listing in the winter.”

“Laptaria cu Caimac’s story on the BVB continues and we are glad to have the opportunity to support them on this journey. If in November we launched a bond issue, now it was the turn of the shares, and the success of the private placement — the largest so far on the equity segment of the Multilateral Trading System (SMT) — shows us that investor appetite is very strong when it comes to investing in quality local businesses,” said Daniela Secara, CEO, BT Capital Partners.

The next step is to prepare the documentation required for the admission of the shares to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s Multilateral Trading System. Laptaria cu Caimac aims for the first trading day to take place within a month, under the ticker MILK.

“Almost two years ago, at the Made in Romania Gala, Laptaria cu Caimac was awarded by the BVB and entered the BVB League, receiving the most votes in the Public Vote stage. At the same time, the company announced its intention to list on the BVB. Since then, the company has raised EUR 7 million through its bond and share issues, which shows that investors trust the company’s development plans just as customers trust Laptaria cu Caimac products. Most likely, many of those who invested in Laptaria cu Caimac’s bonds and shares have already become customers, if they weren’t already. We congratulate the entire Laptaria cu Caimac and BT Capital Partners team for this partnership that ensured the success of the two financing rounds,” said Radu Hanga, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The funds raised from the share listing will be used to expand the plant, specifically to build a bottle and jar washing station, utility systems and facilities for packaging storage at various stages.

“We have grown steadily since the plant was launched; today we have 15 products on the shelf, and the monthly numbers for the packaging we put on the market are becoming extremely important. We are building the butter and cheese unit and increasing the capacity of our acidophilus product lines. The savings generated by reusing packaging will be very important for the company’s profitability and its future capacity to support development. We want to set up a national system for the collection and reuse of packaging for consumers. The most expensive component is the bottle and jar washing station, which consists of a hall with several storage sectors, as well as a clean room for the robots and machinery that will wash and disinfect the packaging. The environmental impact will be significant, and this project complements many others already implemented that involved changing processes to reduce water and energy consumption, as well as carbon emissions. We are continuing on the ambitious path we have set — to become a carbon-neutral company by 2030.” said Adrian Cocan, Project Manager at Laptaria cu Caimac.

Agroserv Mariuta SA was founded in 1994 and until 2018 operated exclusively in agriculture: arable farming (wheat, barley, rapeseed, triticale, corn, alfalfa and others, over 3,000 ha) and a dairy farm (over 2,700 head). Starting in 2018, it commissioned a modern dairy plant and launched the Laptaria cu Caimac brand, which has rapidly climbed in consumer preferences thanks to its high-quality products.

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Laptaria cu Caimac runs its own farm and uses the latest methods to produce dairy that is high-quality, natural, safe, nutritious and free of unnecessary additives. The state-of-the-art processing plant, which has attracted investments of over EUR 5 million, has a technical processing capacity of approximately 75 tonnes of milk per day, and modern processing techniques allow the milk to be pasteurised at a lower temperature than usual to preserve the true taste of cow’s milk and as much of its nutrients as possible. More information about Laptaria cu Caimac and its products can be found at www.laptariacucaimac.ro or on the Facebook/Instagram pages Laptaria cu Caimac.

BT Capital Partners, the investment banking and capital markets division of Banca Transilvania, is Oaklins’ exclusive member in Romania, the most important international alliance of M&A specialists, and the largest retail broker on Romania’s capital market. BT Capital Partners provides advisory services for raising capital through the capital market, brokerage services, M&A advisory, the structuring of complex financing schemes, market research and strategic management consulting.