The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering a project for the issue of a EUR35 million multi-currency loan to France’s Soufflet Group for the work of its subsidiaries in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and Serbia. According to the bank, the board of its directors plans to discuss this project at a meeting on October 3 this year.
It is assumed that the funds will be used to replenish working capital necessary for the subsidiaries to work in the agro-market of these countries: from storage and processing into malt to trade in agricultural products.
Among the customers are Soufflet Agro Ukraine and Soufflet Agro Polska, which are 100% subsidiaries of Soufflet Group.
In the first half of 2018, Soufflet Agro Ukraine LLC saw revenue rise by 60.3%, to UAH 2.707 billion, while net profit fall by 2.8%, to UAH 109.93 million.
Last year the company more than doubled revenue, to UAH 3.835 billion, posting a net loss of UAH 23.23 million against UAH 31.49 million net profit a year earlier.
The State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine seeks to launch the “green” bonds market in Ukraine in two years to attract financing to energy efficiency projects, Agency Head Serhiy Savchuk has said.
“Today, the market of green bonds is developing rapidly in the world. Ukraine lacks the legislation. There is “appetite” of Ukrainian and foreign investors to buy bonds. The main thing is that the principles and procedures of the “green” bonds market comply with international standards. We will implement them in our legislation. We will start the development of the “green” bond market. I think it will take two years,” Savchuk said at a press conference on Thursday.
According to him, the relevant changes are contained in the bill on the capital market and regulated markets, developed by the agency in cooperation with the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market.
Savchuk recalled that the “green” bonds are a debt financial instrument, the proceeds from the sale of which are used to finance “green” projects.
According to the head of the energy efficiency agency, “green” bonds can be issued by corporations, international banks, the state or municipalities.
Nika-Tera marine terminal (Mykolaiv), part of Group DF of Dmytro Firtash, has increased its storage capacity by 1.8 times, to 515,000 tonnes of grain, according to a press release from the port. “To maximize the effective processing of the new harvest maize, the storage capacity was significantly increased, which as a result amounted to 515,000 tonnes. Today, these are the largest port capacities by the volume of one-time storage in the ports of Mykolaiv region and the second largest among the ports of Ukraine,” Nika-Tera Operation Director Ihor Hrydnev said.
Cargo turnover at Nika-Tera terminal as of August 29, 2018 was 3 million tonnes. Since the beginning of the year, 180 vessels have been handled at the port.
In the structure of processed goods for the specified period, the share of grain, leguminous crops and oilseeds was 59%, bulk cargo stood at 36%, and fertilizers at 5%. “Traditionally grain remains the main type of cargo for the port. For the first two months of the new marketing year, 32 vessels with grain were handled at the port, the volume of transshipment was 484,000 tonnes,” the expert said.
Nika-Tera is a highly mechanized sea terminal that is part of the Group DF port business.
Ukraine would calmly pass this autumn and winter thanks to the assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine’s Alternate Executive Director in the IMF Vladyslav Rashkovan has said. “I am sure that we would calmly pass this autumn and next winter, including thanks to assistance from the IMF,” Rashkovan said in an interview with the Novoye Vremia magazine.
He said that Ukraine would soon receive the next tranche from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
“I still hope that Ukraine will receive this money. I would think in terms of how it will help us to further implement the reforms that have been launched. Over the past four years it has been done more than in 23 years. The World Bank, the EBRD [the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development] and all international investors admit it, but we have lost a lot of time and we need to develop faster. The IMF is able to help us,” Rashkovan said.
Head of the Ukrainian state Petro Poroshenko with his decrees has dismissed Dmytro Shymkiv from the post of deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine and appointed Serhiy Marchenko to the post. “Dismiss Dmytro Anatoliyovych Shymkiv from the post of deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine,” reads the text of decree No. 265/2018, published on the presidential website on Friday afternoon. “Appoint Marchenko Serhiy Mykhailovych as deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine,” says the text of decree No. 226/2018.
Сypriot PVK Energy Investment, part of ICU Group, has acquired Solar Capital LLC (Kherson), whose beneficiary was previously Iryna Barakh, the wife of chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios, according to information in the state register. “The acquisition of Solar Capital is another step in the development of our investment business in the field of alternative energy,” Kostiantyn Stetsenko, the managing partner of ICU, told Interfax-Ukraine.
He noted that the first project of the group in this direction is the construction of Kamyanets-Podilsky solar plant.
“Now we are investing in the construction of a solar power plant in Kherson region. This investment is our contribution to the renewal of generating capacities in Ukraine, energy independence by reducing dependence on imported fossil resources and the implementation of the national plan for the share of renewable energy sources,” he said.
Earlier, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine agreed the deal.
According to the state register, Solar Capital was registered on February 15 of this year with a charter capital of UAH 4.5 million. Its head is Yevhen Barakh, who from mid-July also heads MS Social Project, part of ICU Group, planning to build Ukraine’s largest plant for processing solid domestic waste in Zhytomyr.
