The owner of the Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding and former owner of VAB Bank and Bank Financial Initiative Oleh Bakhmatiuk has confirmed his readiness to repay UAH 19 billion of debts of these banks to the state in the full amount if the debts are restructured for 10 years at low rate. He has accused the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) of the unwillingness to peacefully settle the dispute.
“I am ready to pay all the debts of VAB bank and Bank Financial Initiative in full to the state, but the NBU even does not want to come to the negotiating table,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Bakhmatiuk pointed out his readiness to provide a business model for repayment of these UAH 19 billion of debts, recalling that Ukrlandfarming continues generating the turnover of about $1 billion per year, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are about $200 million, and the potential value of the agricultural holding may be about $2 billion.
Previously American privately held global corporation Cargill has withdrawn from among the shareholders of Ukrainian-based UkrLandFarming (ULF) agrarian holding, according to a ULF financial report for 2016. Cargill’s subsidiary, Cargill Financial Services International Inc. by the end of 2015, had held 1,668,749 ULF shares, or 5% of the total number. The remaining 95%, or 31,706,245 shares, were held by UK-based Avonex Limited. By the end of 2016, the number of shares owned by Avonex Limited had not changed, whereas the package held by Cargill was transferred to Cyprus-based Quickcom Limited’s ownership. The report says that the sole owner of Avonex Limited and Quickcom Limited is Oleh Bakhmatiuk.
Cargill acquired a 5% stake in ULF early in 2014 for $200 million. Based on the sum of the deal, the total value of the holding was assessed at $4 billion.
