Agro-industrial holding Astarta plans to sell sugar assets in Kharkiv region – Savyntsi and Novoivanivsky refineries, co-owner of the holding Viktor Ivanchyk has said.
“Last year we worked without Savyntsi refinery, and this year without Novoivanivsky refinery in Kharkiv region. Sugar beet is not grown around these enterprises due to the weather conditions. Kharkiv region is one of the regions where the drought is felt most acutely,” he said in an interview with NV.
At the same time, Ivanchyk did not indicate at what amount the enterprises are being evaluated. He also did not rule out that Astarta may announce their sale by the end of the year.
When asked whether the company is interested in investing in leased land, the co-owner of the holding said: “Yes, if these are long-term lease agreements.”
“When the relevant legislation comes into force and we are allowed to do this [to buy land], then we can think about whether it is profitable for us to invest in this long-term asset and what rate of return we could consider acceptable for ourselves comparable with the opportunities that we have when leasing land,” he said.
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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) would provide a long-term loan of up to $30 million to Ukrainian agroholding Astarta. According to a posting on the website of the IFC, the decision was made by the IFC Board on March 23. This program aims to improve resource efficiency at the company’tiss processing facilities through the implementation of Best Available Technology (BAT) that is technology for limiting pollutant discharges; and at improving farming and trading of grains and oilseeds through financing of farming equipment and storage facilities.
The IFC said that this will be the fourth program of cooperation with Astarta, starting from 2012. Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Kharkiv regions.
