Japan is urgently prepared to provide support to Ukraine with a loan of at least $100 million as a sign of support for it in the conditions of the buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said following a telephone conversation between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Prime Minister Kishida informed that Japan is urgently prepared to provide support with a loan of at least $100 million based on the request of the Ukrainian side, and President Zelensky expressed deep gratitude for this,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a report on the website after the February 15 conversation.
Japan has been paying close attention to the move to strengthen Russian troops around the Ukrainian border. Japan has consistently supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said.
“The two leaders agreed to work together to ease tensions through diplomatic efforts,” the ministry said in the statement.
Bank Credit Dnipro intends to acquire the First Investment Bank (PINbank, Kyiv), owned by Russian citizen Yevgeny Giner (88.89% of shares), the press service of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine said on Monday. “By order of the state commissioner No. 09/334-r dated November 23, 2021, case No. 130-25 / 3-20-EK was initiated on concentration in the form of acquisition of the First Investment Bank by Bank Credit Dnipro, which grants that 50% of the votes in the supreme management body of the bank are exceeded,” the committee said.According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of June 25, 2021, the shareholders of PINbank were also Oleksandr Shandruk with a 9.51% stake.Bank Credit Dnipro was founded in 1993. As of January 1, 2021, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, the only shareholder of the bank was Oleksandr Yaroslavsky.According to the NBU, as of October 1, 2021, Bank Credit Dnipro was ranked 19th in terms of total assets (UAH 19.781 billion) and PINbank 44th (UAH 3.698 billion) among 71 operating banks.
The European Investment Bank and Pravex Bank have signed a EUR30 million loan agreement to expand access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and mid-cap companies in Ukraine, a joint release said.
According to it, the loan is part of the efforts of the European Union initiative Team Europe to respond to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis.
“Cooperation with the EIB constitutes an important step in helping our bank reach its strategic goal to expand financing of small and medium enterprises, as well as mid-caps. This credit line will help us support our clients from the real economy, providing them with the affordable loans they need in order to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic crisis they have faced,” chairman of the management board of Pravex Bank Gianluca Corrias said.
Pravex Bank was founded in 1992. Its sole shareholder at the beginning of 2020 was Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (Italy).
According to the National Bank, as of September 1, 2020, in terms of total assets (UAH 6.539 billion), Pravex Bank ranked 26th among 75 banks operating in the country.
The state-owned Ukreximbank (Kyiv) has opened a long-term credit limit for Centravis Production Ukraine, part of Centravis Ltd., in the amount of EUR 35 million, which is equivalent to UAH 1.177 billion.
According to Centravis press release published on Thursday, March 4, the company is going to use these funds to produce new types of seamless pipes, introduce environmental and energy-saving technologies and further upgrade the production.
“The bank opened a credit limit of EUR 35 million for five years to maintain the high competitiveness of products in world markets as well as to ensure timely and full implementation of the investment program aimed at developing sales of high value-added products,” Director of Corporate Banking Department (private enterprises) at Ukreximbank Oleksandr Isniuk said, who is quoted by the press service.
In turn, Centravis CFO Alexandre Joseph added that raising funds in Ukreximbank would strengthen the company’s financial stability and would provide the opportunity to annually invest at least EUR 7 million in the development and output of new products.
“Since we work with world top brands, we need to be proactive and maintain focus on efficiency and customer service. We believe that cooperation with Ukreximbank is a classic win-win story for Ukraine. Our company exports over 98% of its products. The foreign exchange earnings amount to about EUR 150 million. This helps to improve the foreign trade balance of Ukraine and strengthen the ‘made in Ukraine’ presence in the world market,” Joseph said.
The press release recalled that despite the tailspin due to the coronavirus pandemic, Centravis maintained a stable position among the world’s best manufacturers of seamless pipes over 2020. The production volume amounted to 19,050 tonnes. The company doubled its EBITDA compared to 2019 — to EUR 14 million.
Centravis is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of seamless stainless steel pipes, founded in 2000. Its production facilities are located in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovsk region).
Centravis is one of the world’s top ten players, supplies products to ThyssenKrupp, BMW, Alstom, Linde, Samsung, Volkswagen and other companies. The company employs over 1,400 employees.
Ukreximbank, the sole owner of which is the state, was established in 1992. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2021, in terms of total assets (UAH 246.877 billion), Ukreximbank ranked third among 73 banks operating in the country.
Work on a possible deal to acquire Credit Dnipro Bank by Oleksandr Yaroslavsky from Victor Pinchuk is ongoing. “Work is ongoing. It will be a good business, if you manage to buy. There is experience, you know that we probably have the most successful experience in working in the financial sector with UkrSibbank,” Yaroslavsky told Interfax-Ukraine at the Ukrainian House in Davos, organized by the Pinchuk Foundation, WNISEF and Horizon Capital.
According to him, with the proper operation of the bank, the need for its constant capitalization by the shareholder will disappear.
Yaroslavsky also said that he was ready to take part in large privatization, but so far the facilities offered by the State Property Fund have a lot of problems. “Everything sounds so good, but when you know the inside situation, it doesn’t look very good,” the businessman said.
In particular, with the case of the United Mining and Chemical Company, he pointed out the need to deal with property issues, in the case of the Odesa Port-Side Plant, there is a debt of $250 million to the structures of Dmytro Firtash.
“Elektrotyazhmash is also an interesting enterprise, but it is unclear in what condition it is. And 85% of the market is Russia,” Yaroslavsky added.
The Dutch Development Bank FMO will issue $10 million to Nibulon (Mykolaiv), one of the largest Ukrainian grain traders, for the development of river logistics capacities, according to the FMO’s website. “The project will support Nibulon’s strategy, mainly aimed at expanding and optimizing its river grain logistic capacities in order to increase grain trade, reduce the share of road and rail traffic,” the report says.
According to its data, the project will also allow Nibulon to increase export capacity by improving logistics and infrastructure. As reported, Nibulon plans in the next two years to reorient virtually all of its cargoes to Dnipro and transport 4 million tonnes of products per year by water, which will allow reducing the load on the roads.
Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. It is one of the largest operators in the grain market of the country.
