Swedish-owned agricultural firm Black Earth Farming said that it planned to raise up to $300 million by the end of the year to continue to expand its land holdings across southern Russia.

Through a public offer on Stockholm's alternative First North stock exchange, the Russia-based company would raise $200 million to $300 million by selling depository rights, most likely in December, said Gustav Wetterling, Black Earth's head of investor relations. "We plan to purchase more land and will continue to ramp up operations," Wetterling said by telephone from Stockholm. "We are now looking to buy fallow land near the land that we already own to take advantage of economies of scale."

The company leases and owns more than 260,000 hectares of farmland in the Kursk, Tambov, Lipetsk, Samara, Voronezh, Kaluga and Ryazan regions in the fertile Black Earth zone, the country's traditional breadbasket.

The Swedish-owned company is one of a small but growing number of foreign players looking to run large-scale farming projects in the country.