Target Companies

We target the companies, which are operating or are planning to carry their operations in the rural areas of Armenia, in the following fields:

  • dairy;
  • fruit canning;
  • vegetable canning;
  • wine production;
  • fish farming and processing;
  • poultry;
  • cold storage;
  • greenhousing.

Company type

 FREDA focuses on agro-companies with the following characteristics:

  • they are organized as or willing to transform into joint stock companies to enable FREDA’s equity investment;
  • they are privately owned;
  • they are willing to establish transparent corporate governance mechanisms, following the international best practices and the relevant Armenian laws;
  • they fulfil the basic financial viability and development impact criteria;
  • they have sufficient experience and show good, realistic growth potential in their core operations;
  • they are willing to accept FREDA’s technical support to facilitate development of their value chain/sub-sector;
  • they are willing to develop their processes and products to meet international quality standards.

Eligibility criteria

Characteristics translate into the following pre-conditions (non-compliance with one or more of these criteria does not result in automatic rejection of an application for investment but may influence the type and amount of FREDA’s investment)

  • the company is a small- or medium-sized agro-business with major linkages to the farming population;
  • the company is privately owned and registered as a closed joint-stock company;
  • the company has a transparent accounting system that keeps records and produces financial reports in accordance with the IFRS (this can be done by outsourcing the accounting function to an acceptable independent company or by having an acceptable system internally);
  • the company has its financial statements audited for at least two years immediately preceding the investment application and has an unqualified opinion for at least one year;
  • the company has a clear and transparent system of rules, practices and processes by which it is directed and controlled, including a Board of Directors, which is sufficiently independent from the company’s management to truly represent the shareholders’ interests;
  • the company has at least three years of experience and has reported profit for at least two years over the last three years immediately preceding the investment application.