EBRD Divests Interests in Top Macedonian Winery Tikves

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has divested its minority stake in Macedonian winery Tikves, but maintains a monetary relationship with the company via the EUR 2.5 mln working capital loan that was sanctioned in 2009. The leading winery’s shares have been sold to existing majority stakeholder M6 Investments. The exit comes six years after the original pre-financial-crisis EUR 6 mln in equity funding, which helped the winery to establish a high-quality range of products, implement its development plans and streamline and modernize the production aspects of the business. EBRD has single-handedly invested close to EUR 950 mln in the Macedonian economy through proactive equity funding in the energy, infrastructure, corporate and financial sectors; the funding has also stimulated additional investors that has matched and exceeded this amount by a considerable margin.

Tikves (www.tikves.com.mk)

Tikves Winery is the leading wine-producer in the namesake region in Macedonia, which is considered to have the ideal climatic conditions for growing grapes: the blend of Continental north winds and Mediterranean south winds make this a perfect location. With an acreage exceeding 100,000 square meters, the Tikves Winery boasts processing 30,000 tonnes of grapes every year. Currently employing 320 people, the company markets its wines in 15 countries apart from Macedonia itself, and is considered to be the largest such wine production facility in the country.