German investment company Connect GmbH & Co. geschlossene Invest KG (Connect) will provide Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, with a €5 million loan for seven years to modernize its sugar factories, the company’s website reports.
“The agreement is financed by the ImpactConnect program, which includes any Connect financing and financing programs established by the German government. The purpose of this financing is to maintain, develop and modernize Astarta’s sugar factories,” the statement said.
The agricultural holding added that the financing will be provided to one of Astarta’s subsidiaries, but did not specify its name.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares and dairy farms with 22,000 cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
