MHP issued the announcement via the communication agency Taktik after having notified the Slovenian Protection Agency of the concentration.

The release described MHP as a vertically integrated company and a leading poultry producer in Ukraine with operations in the Netherlands and Slovakia, and a sales and distribution office in the United Arab Emirates.

MHP sells around 60% of its poultry products in Ukraine and around 40% to more than 60 countries across the world, the release reads.

The release notes that MHP invested some EUR 1.5bn into greenfield projects in the past decade, it also notes "a strong and experienced management team, and an integrated business model".

MHP expects the acquisition will add value to the company and strengthen its position as a global player, while Perutnina Ptuj would obtain a strategic long-term investor.

"Perutnina Ptuj has a strong brand and significant share of poultry value-added products, which MHP is ready to support over the coming years through investment and further development," the release says.

MHP committed to improve the quality of Perutnina Ptuj's production base to meet the highest EU standards.

It said the cooperation would bring direct benefits to local farmers and employees and would have a positive effect on the poultry industry in the Balkan region in general.

SIJ, which holds 90.69% of Perutnina Ptuj, confirmed MHP's bid in a press release, noting that it had made its plan to offload the investment in Perutnina publicly known in the past.

SIJ said the acquisition would benefit Perutnina Ptuj, SIJ and all other stakeholders, adding that MHP was willing to support Slovenia's leading food processing group through investment, further development of the exiting business model and expansion, which would also benefit local farmers and employees.

According to the online edition of the newspaper Finance, MHP is owned by Ukrainian billionaire Yuriy Kosiuk, who was mentioned as a potential buyer of Perutnina Ptuj four years ago.

At the time, he visited several poultry farms in Slovenia as well as Perutnina's production centres. His visit was organised by the Swiss bank UBS, which was looking for an investor to bring fresh capital to Perutnina.

Just recently, the news portal Siol reported that Perutnina Ptuj was to be acquired by the French LDC group, Europe's largest poultry company.

The report said that SIJ, which acquired the poultry group three years ago, was forced into selling by its creditors, primarily the Russian state-owned bank Sberbank and individual bond buyers.