Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 July / Trend corr. I.Khalilova/ Once the amount of stocks of SAF and Garnet (part of MilkPro) juice manufacturers in Azeri Fruit Corporation (first fruit corporation in Azerbaijan) is specified, an appraisal and a juridical company will be involved in implementation of the project, Director for Export Promotion of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) Emil Aliyev said on 18 July. The decision was made at the first meeting of the working group on creation of the corporation.
"The companies intend to complete consultations within 3-4 weeks," said Aliyev.
An appraisal company will be drawn in to estimate the assets of SAF Garnet transferred to Azeri Fruit, Co. One of world's four leading international consulting companies will be involved (Ernst&Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG) in order to solve all juridical issues regarding establishment of the corporation.
SAF and Garnet will be the key stockholders of the corporation, though the list may be expanded in future.
Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) signed a trilateral MOI on 1 July with Azerbaijan's juice manufacturers SAF and MPro to establish a Fruit Corporation. According to the MOI, AIC will draw in extra funds from international fiscal institutions, including strategic and portfolio investors, for financing of the project.
AIC's shareholding in the Corporation will not exceed 25%, since investing company always is a minority shareholder.
AZPROMO will provide consultation services to establish administration, corporate system in the corporation.
Corporation will represent local juice manufacturers in the foreign markets, as well as help in producing the product that will meet the international standards under one brand.
Establishment of Fruit Corporation in Azerbaijan is intended to unify the efforts of juice and vegetable manufacturers.
There are 13 small-scale and big-scale fruit manufacturers in the country, with 40 homemade. Almost most canneries and dairy, as well as the meat enterprises produce juice.
On 18 July, official exchange rate totalled 0.8058 AZN/USD
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