NIB provides 7-year R&D loan to Lantmännen

NIB has provided a 7-year loan to Lantmännen Ekonomisk Förening, a Swedish agricultural cooperative, to co-finance its research and development expenditures during 2022-2024.

The EUR 45 million loan will be used to finance R&D investments in the agriculture sector, with a focus on improving productivity and developing products and services, within animal husbandry and crop cultivation. Additional areas are development of food products, particularly oat-based products, and bio-energy investments, such as converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol and materials from cereal by-products.

The principal areas of R&D investment are development of products and services to improve productivity in agriculture, development of food products, and development of green materials and biochemicals. There is potential for knowledge spillover between Lantmännen and other companies, as well as knowledge sharing between Lantmännen and their members, Swedish farmers. The company also has collaborations with Nordic and Dutch research institutes. Clear environmental benefits can be expected once implemented at farm level.

“This loan will enable Lantmännen to continue its research and development activities during the next few years, which are essential for the company to reach its goals of increasing the productivity within the agriculture sector while simultaneously halving its climate impact every decade in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2050,” says André Küüsvek, NIB President and CEO.

Since 2006, NIB has concluded four loans with Lantmännen amounting to a total of EUR 200 million.

“It is gratifying that Lantmännen and NIB, once again, have agreed on long-term financing, and thereby strengthens Lantmännen’s intensified focus on innovation in both the short and long term perspective,” says Michael Sigsfors, Group CFO, Lantmännen.

Lantmännen is a Swedish agricultural cooperative and a Nordic leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food products. The cooperative is owned by 18,000 Swedish farmers, has 10,000 employees and operates in over 20 countries.

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact
Fridrik Andersen, Senior Banker, Services & Consumer, +358 10 618 0238, Fridrik.andersen@nib.int

Arild Moen, Associate Director of Communications, at +358 10 618 0496, arild.moen@nib.int