The sale will generate a loss of about €1m to Atria. The pig farm, which is located on a land plot of some 500 hectares and has 8,000 pigs, was transferred to its new owner on April 29, 2016. The amount of the latest deal was not disclosed by Atria.

“This decision … was very important for two reasons: first, we need to make further investments elsewhere which requires additional funds, and second, our main business area is located at the plant in Valga which is located far away,” Olle Horm, the chief executive of the company’s local subsidiary Atria Eesti AS, told local news agency Delfi.

Atria’s Estonian offshoot operates a meat processing plant in Valga, in the country’s southern part. The significant logistics costs have reportedly decreased the profitability of processing the meat which was transported from Linnamäe to Valga, a distance of slightly less than 250 km.

Atria says it is one of the leading food companies in the Nordic countries, Russia and the Baltic region, with net sales for 2015 exceeding €1.34 billion, and a workforce of about 4,270 employees.

Atria’s Estonian subsidiary is the country’s second largest pork meat producer. Last year, the company reported net sales of some €32.9 million, and it was operated by a workforce of some 315. Atria Eesti has a 13 per cent stake in the Estonian cold cut market, and a 17 per cent share in the country’s sausages sales, according to figures released by Atria.

In addition to Estonia and Finland, the group operates facilities in Sweden, Denmark and Russia.