Agriculture, Lithuania, Loan, Markets and Companies, Russia

"Yes, I can confirm that it is Sberbank Europe (Russian state bank Sberbank's division in Austria), which operates entirely separately and has its own balances, works as a European bank with branches in Germany. We have been working with Russia's Sberbank for 10 years already, so as we work on one market, they know us well and it makes sense in a sense," Juscius told.

Earlier this week, Verslo Zinios business daily said that Sberbank Europe had granted a loan of 40 mln euros to Baltic Champs Group, which the company used for paying minority shareholders of Auga Group, including businessman Gediminas Ziemelis.

"Our business in Russia is very big and we needed pledges and guarantees for the huge loan. Our business is well known to them (Sberbank) and is financed by the bank, therefore, it was far easier to make financing decisions than to any other bank that does not want to know anything about Russia and our business there. We have been the bank's client since 2007 and we have always conducted all products via the bank," said Juscius.

Baltic Champs Group operates a mushroom growing company, NGK Kashira, in Russia and compost production company Mycela in Poland.

Last December, Baltic Champs Group paid for Auga Group's shares under option contracts. Baltic Champs Group purchased a total stake of 36.57% in Auga Group, raising its holding to 88.13%. Juscius reportedly paid a total of 41.933 mln euros for the stake.