Russia's Rusagro launches secondary share offering to raise $250 mln

(Adds share price performance, plans for proceeds)

MOSCOW, April 21 (Reuters) - Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro launched a secondary share offering on Thursday aiming to raise $250 million to fund expansion.

The company said Vadim Moshkovich, its controlling beneficial shareholder, planned to purchase up to around $100 million of newly issued global depositary receipts.

A financial market source said the bookbuilding will be completed on April 27 with pricing on April 28.

Rusagro, which produces sugar, pork and fats, became the second Russian company to launch a share sale this year, after the February offering of Moscow Exchange shares.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Rusagro have risen by almost 240 percent over the past two years due to higher output and sales amid import restrictions and higher sugar prices.

Rusagro intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for funding of investment projects, including a pig breeding complex in Russia's Far East (Kuala Lumpur: 5029.KL - news) and greenhouse facilities in central Russia, it said in a statement.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) also plans to modernise the recently acquired Razgulay sugar plants and may make more acquisitions, it said. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Olga Popova; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; editing by Susan Thomas)