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 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has lent a $20 million loan to Zerno-Agrotrade LLC and Tsukoragroprom LLC, owned by the Astarta agro-industrial holding, for replenishment of their working capital.
“Astarta will introduce advanced IT solutions necessary for precise farming that it develops in Ukraine. These modern agricultural technologies will allow boosting the yield of agricultural crops and reducing the use of mineral fertilizers by 15%,” EBRD Senior Adviser for External Relations Anton Usov wrote on Facebook.
In the next three years, Astarta also plans to increase the area of land on which it will use the technology of precision farming.
“In the context of this project, Astarta will also offer a high-quality integrated training program for graduates of schools and students of universities who want to work in the agricultural sector of Ukraine,” Usov noted.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, and Kharkiv regions. It consists of eight sugar refineries, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of about 250,000 hectares, a soybean processing facility, dairy farms and a complex that produce energy from agricultural residues.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will consider a loan worth up to EUR 150 million for LLC SyvashEnergoProm, a subsidiary of Norway’s NBT, for the construction of a 250 MW wind farm in Kherson region, the lender said on its website. “This is a long-term senior loan of up to EUR 150 million in an A/B structure, 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. The remaining project financing is expected to be provided via parallel loans from IFIs, DFIs, and other investors,” the Bank said.
The total cost of the project is EUR 369 million.
The project will help support the development of renewable energy in Ukraine and the overall decarbonisation of the energy sector. As was reported, NBT SA, which is a Norwegian wind farm developer with operating wind farms in China, in April 2018 bought LLC SyvashEnergoProm (operates a wind farm whose capacity is about 3 MW). It plans to build a wind farm with a capacity of 250-330 MW in neighboring areas.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a seven-year loan of $15 million to a major manufacturer and supplier of fixtures and equipment for retail stores and warehouses – Modern Expo Group, the bank reported on Friday. The proceeds will be used to increase production volumes at the two principal manufacturing sites in Lutsk (Ukraine) and in Vitebsk (Belarus). The company will also be able to restructure its balance sheet.
Modern-Expo is a privately owned company, which has been operating in Ukraine for over 20 years and expanded to Belarus in 2014. It is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of fixtures and equipment for retail stores and warehouses in central and Eastern Europe.
The main plant with an area of over 65,000 square meters and the Ukrainian office are located in Lutsk. In 2013, the group launched production in Verkhniodniprovsk (Dnipropetrovsk region) with an area of 22,000 square meters. In 2017, RED POS equipment manufacturer (Lviv) joined the group.
Around 65% of company revenues are generated from export sales to more than 60 countries around the world. It supplies its products to major international retailers including Auchan, Carrefour, Billa, Nestle and many others.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 12.1 billion across some 400 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
Since the start of its operations in Belarus in 1992, the EBRD has invested over EUR 2 billion in 95 projects in various sectors of the country’s economy.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will issue a long-term loan of up to $20 million to Astarta, a Ukrainian agro-industrial holding, to finance working capital necessary for plant growing, sugar beets and soybeans processing. EBRD Senior Adviser on External Relations Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine the board of directors made a corresponding decision at a meeting on July 18.
The bank says its funding will also contribute to improving efficiency and productivity through the introduction of modern IT solutions and farming practices and support of stronger ties with local suppliers.
According to information on the EBRD’s website, the overall valuation of the project is estimated at $242 million.
As reported, the EBRD in October 2017 issued a $25 million loan to Astarta for seven years for the construction and purchase of sugar and grain storage facilities.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding that operates in eight regions of Ukraine. The holding includes eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of about 250,000 hectares and dairy farms.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a loan of EUR10 million to Kyivsky cardboard and paper mill (KCPM), a leading company in the sector and based outside Ukraine’s capital. This will be a seven-year loan to boost energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, the EBRD said in a statement on July 13. The purchase of a shoe press for cardboard drying will help KCPM reduce the use of steam, increase production volumes and improve the quality of coated cardboard. The replacement of pumps will halve the electricity needs of this equipment. Combined annual savings are expected to reach up to EUR2 million.
New converting and packing lines for the production of tissues will be procured as part of the project and will allow the company to widen its range of products for use in office buildings, hotels, schools and airports. It will also help KCPM increase its domestic and export sales, including those to the EU.
KCPM will upgrade its waste-paper processing equipment, which will allow the firm to improve the quality – and reduce the cost of cardboard production. These improvements will make it possible to reprocess waste paper up to four times. This will be the first production cycle in the country to implement the EU principles of using fewer resources and increasing energy efficiency.
The investments are expected to reduce the company’s annual CO2e emissions by up to 11,000 tonnes. Kyivsky cardboard paper mill is one of the largest cardboard and paper producers in Europe. It employs almost 2,200 people. It sells produce to almost 700 companies in Ukraine, some CIS member states and the rest of the world. In 2017, the mill saw a 14.8% rise in production from 2016, to UAH 4.85 billion. The mill is owned by Pulp Mill Holding GmbH (Austria), its ultimate beneficiary is businessman Volodymyr Krupchak.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1993, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 12.1 billion across some 400 projects in Ukraine.
