CEPAGRO S.A.E.C.A.

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What it is

CEPAGRO S.A.E.C.A. — the Compañía Especializada de Productos Agrícolas — is registered with Paraguay’s securities regulator (the Superintendencia de Valores, part of the Banco Central del Paraguay) as a trader whose core purpose is the purchase, sale, import, export and distribution of agricultural inputs across Paraguay, with secondary activities in real estate, industry and commerce.

In Paraguay, the legal suffix “S.A.E.C.A.” stands for Sociedad Anónima Emisora de Capital Abierto — literally an “open-capital share-issuing company,” the Paraguayan equivalent of a publicly listed joint-stock corporation. The company is listed on the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción, the country’s only stock exchange.

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Who owns it

Court documents name Carlos Andrés Oleñik Memmel among the companies attributed to him, including Cepagro S.A.E.C.A., Arenales Paraguayos SA and Annuaki SA. Oleñik was identified as a shareholder of Cepagro, and prosecutors allege he issued a US$12,000 cheque through the firm in June 2020 that was deposited into an account of the criminal organisation.

Pedro P. Seall Melgarejo is also linked to CEPAGRO S.A.E.C.A.

in public records associated with the Bolsa de Valores. Not published: the precise ownership percentages for each shareholder are not disclosed in the BCP/SIV filings or in any available corporate registry document.

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Who runs it

According to prosecutors, Lilian Haydée Ayala de Silva acted on several occasions as legal representative of Cepagro SAECA, alongside lawyer Pedro Pablo Seall Melgarejo, who also represented the company in real-estate transactions. No formal CEO or CFO title is disclosed in any BCP/SIV filing or corporate-governance document available to this publication.

Not published: the names of the current board members, the president (chairman), the general manager or any equivalent executive title have not been submitted to the Superintendencia de Valores in any filing that is publicly accessible — a direct consequence of the company’s repeated failure to present mandatory periodic reports, as documented by the regulator.

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The money, in plain words

On 1 April 2025, Paraguay’s Superintendencia de Valores imposed an automatic suspension on CEPAGRO, barring it from raising new money from the public through shares or bonds, because the company had failed to file its mandatory annual audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024.

A further automatic suspension followed on 18 August 2025 for missing the quarterly report to 30 June 2025, and yet another on 17 November 2025 for missing the quarterly report to 30 September 2025. Because CEPAGRO has persistently failed to submit financial statements to its regulator, no revenue, profit, asset, margin or equity figures exist in any publicly accessible primary source; this is itself a material regulatory finding, not merely a data gap.

Paraguayan securities rules under Resolución SV SG N° 0022/2024 require all registered issuers to submit periodic financial information on a quarterly basis; failure triggers automatic suspension from the primary market. CEPAGRO has triggered that mechanism repeatedly across 2024 and 2025.

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What it is doing now

In May 2025, a Paraguayan criminal court sent 23 people — including Pedro Pablo Seall Melgarejo, acting in representation of Cepagro SAECA — to oral trial on charges related to the “Pavo Real PY” organised-crime case; prosecutors allege that Seall Melgarejo and others used Cepagro to execute a simulated sale of the Estancia “Cristo Rey” and also conducted repeated purchases and sales of the Estancia “Negla Poty” between Cepagro and a financial firm, simulating mortgage loans and debt-for-asset swaps.

Prosecutors describe Cepagro as a front company used by Carlos Oleñik Memmel, identified as a nominee for Jarvis Chimenes Pavão, the alleged leader of an international drug-trafficking organisation, to acquire high-value real estate. The company remains listed on the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción but is barred from new market-primary issuance under its current regulatory suspension.

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What to watch

• Oral trial outcome (Pavo Real PY): A conviction or settlement against individuals acting as CEPAGRO’s representatives would likely trigger further regulatory action, potentially including forced dissolution or de-listing.
• Regulatory compliance: The company must file overdue audited accounts for FY 2024 and quarterly reports through Q3 2025 to lift its current suspension; continued non-filing may escalate to formal sanctions beyond market access bans.
• Asset status: Prosecutors allege that through CEPAGRO and related entities, high-value rural properties were acquired as part of an illicit structure. Any judicial seizure or forfeiture of assets held in CEPAGRO’s name would materially affect the company’s balance sheet — assuming those numbers ever become public.
• Disclosure: If and when CEPAGRO files overdue financial statements with the Superintendencia de Valores, those will be the first audited numbers available to the market in years, and their contents — whatever they show — will be significant.

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This is news, not investment advice.