MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) - Russian company Horizon Industries JSC is planning to acquire the Russian assets of international grain trader Louis Dreyfus, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Wednesday.

• Horizon Industries, through its Kazakh subsidiary Temirtek LLP, has concluded preliminary sale and purchase agreements for the Russian subsidiaries of Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC).

• The deal, concluded on May 25, covers Volgograd Elevator LLC, Louis Dreyfus Vostok and the Russian Elevator Company (Ruselco), Kommersant reported, citing a letter sent by Horizon to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture.

• LDC stopped exporting Russian grain on July 1, 2023, and said it was assessing options for transferring its existing Russian business and grain assets to new owners.

• The assets could be sold for 1–3 billion roubles ($13 million - $39.1 million), which is tens of times cheaper than its original cost, the newspaper reported, citing sources.

• Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and LDC did not respond promptly to Kommersant, while Horizon Industries CEO Alexander Potseluev declined to comment.

• The Russian Ministry of Agriculture declined Reuters' request for comment on a request, while LDC did not respond to a request.

• Potseluev may be acting on behalf of billionaire Iskander Makhmudov, who controls the Prostory agricultural holding, according to one of the newspaper’s sources.

• Horizon Industries, which is already in the process of settling Ruselco’s debts according to Kommersant, still needs to obtain approval from the Foreign Investment Control Commission and plans to submit its application by August.

($1 = 76.8000 roubles)