The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is ready to support projects to improve regional cooperation, but is currently focused on financing the health sector and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), BSTDB President Dmitry Pankin has stated. “Better, solid, and ready to grow conditions might require more financing in the next few years. As such, our bank is ready to provide the necessary support to projects that can further improve regional cooperation and economic development,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“During the pandemic, investment everywhere slowed down, and BSTDB deferred projects in the infrastructure sector or for corporates looking to expand. Instead, Bank financing shifted more to health sector activities and especially support to SMEs, which found themselves facing difficulties in obtaining financing, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic.,” he stated.
“As ‘normalcy’ returns, we expect investment in expansion and growth to pick up again, and for our portfolio to adapt accordingly,” Pankin added.
The BSTDB was established in 1999 to support the development of the economies of the countries of the Black Sea basin. Its founders are the governments of 11 countries: Ukraine, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia. The headquarters of the BSTDB is located in Thessaloniki. The priority for the bank is the issues of transport communications, energy, agriculture, trade and others. The bank supports economic development and regional cooperation through the provision of loans, credit lines, equity capital and guarantees for projects and trade finance in the public and private sectors of the participating countries.
BLACK SEA TRADE, BSTDB, DEVELOPMENT BANK, REGIONAL COOPERATION
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank intends to issue a loan of up to $ 20 million to a group of companies that owns two Araks shopping centers in Kyiv.
“The loan will support the modernization and upgrade of the commercial property owned by the group and located in Kyiv and Khmelnytsky substantially for the purpose of improving their energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption, as well as the refinancing of the group’s existing credit portfolio, Asters, a legal company acting as a loan advisor, said.
The network of Araks shopping centers in Kyiv includes two objects: the object opened in Kiltseva Street in 2009 (27,000 sq m) and the one launched in the village of Khodosivka in September 2019 (Kyiv region, 15,000 sq m).
The group also owns the Oasis shopping and entertainment center (30,000 sq m), opened in Khmelnytsky in 2008.
Scatec Solar in early June signed an agreement with the Dutch development bank FMO to sell a 40% stake in the project of building the Kamyanka solar power station with a capacity of 32 MW in Cherkasy region, the company’s press service has reported.
According to its data, the project with a total cost of EUR35 million is 70% financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the rest was issued by FMO.
According to the project, Scatec Solar is also a supplier of design, procurement and construction services and will provide services for its operation and maintenance, as well as asset management, the report says.
As reported, Scatec Solar plans to build about 400 MW solar plants in Ukraine in 2019.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank each will provide a EUR 18 million loan for the implementation by Rengy Solar B.V. of a project to build three solar power plants in Mykolaiv region, the EBRD press service has said.
The total installed capacity of the stations will be 47 MW.
Rengy Solar B.V. belongs to the Norwegian developer of the solar energy projects Scatec Solar and Rengy Development (Kyiv).
“Both companies have experience in implementing similar projects with the EBRD, but this new project is the first one for Scatec Solar in the market of alternative energy in Ukraine,” the press service notes.
This project is funded by the EBRD under the USELF-III program for financing alternative energy in Ukraine for a total of EUR 250 million.
As reported, earlier Scatec Solar signed an agreement with Rengy Development about joint implementation of projects on construction of solar plants with a total power of 47 MW in Mykolaiv region.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is considering a possibility of participation in financing of construction of a wind farm in Kherson region with an installed capacity of 250 MW by SyvashEnergoProm LLC, a subsidiary of Norway’s NBT, the bank has reported on its website.
The sum of financing is not specified.
As reported, early September 2018, an agreement on the implementation of an international investment project to build a complex of wind farms in Kherson region with NBT to play the leading role in the project was signed. The wind farm would allow satisfying almost the half of the needs in electricity in Kherson region. According to the project, by the end of next year 67 wind turbines will be installed along the coast of the Syvash Lake. Total investment under the agreement is almost $450 million.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will consider a loan worth up to EUR 150 million for SyvashEnergoProm LLC for the construction of the wind farm, of which up to EUR 75 million would be funded from the EBRD resources and the remainder would be syndicated in a B-loan structure to eligible institutions.
NBT acquired SyvashEnergoProm in Kherson, Ukraine in April 2018. The plan is to construct a wind farm with installed capacity in the range of 250–330 MW, the company said.
In 2006, Kherson Regional State Administration transferred the unfinished Syvash wind power plant to concession to SyvashEnergoProm until 2055.
BLACK SEA TRADE, CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT BANK, MULLING FINANCING, WIND FARM
The Dutch Development Bank FMO and Diligent Capital Partners (DCP) jointly acquired 16% in Allseeds S.A. (Luxembourg), the holding company of a large Ukrainian vegetable oil producer and exporter – Allseeds Group.
“We needed to attract additional investments. FMO responded to the proposal and during the year we implemented the deal,” Allseeds Group CEO Viacheslav Petryshche said at a press conference in Yuzhne (Odesa region).
The deal was closed on September 19.
According to a press release from Allseeds, FMO and DCP jointly acquired shares, providing funding for the implementation of the Allseeds development strategy, which includes expanding the capacity for processing oilseeds, transshipment for the export of oils and meal and increasing added value.
As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed the Dutch Development Bank FMO to indirectly enter the capital of Allseeds.
Allseeds Group was founded in 2010. In July 2015, the group commissioned an oil extraction plant at Yuzhny port with a capacity of processing 2,400 tonnes of sunflower seeds per day (or 1,800 tonnes of rapeseeds, or 1,500 tonnes of soybeans).
