Ukraine is negotiating a potential issue of “peace bonds” designed for retail investors from the US and European diaspora, Bloomberg reported citing sources.
“Ukraine is in talks with the EU and the US to issue so-called ‘peace bonds’ to retail investors to fund the war effort and reconstruction,” the agency said, citing a source familiar with the discussion.
The European Commission has proposed recommendations and the role of an intermediary regarding the control of new bonds. According to the source, Ukraine and the EU held relevant negotiations.
Earlier, the Treasury Department indicated that it was discussing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission the possibility of allowing US citizens to buy Ukraine’s war bonds. According to the source, the Ukrainian government is represented by an international law firm in the placement of bonds on the US market. At present, war bonds have allowed the Ministry of Finance to raise $1.53 billion, the IMF – $1.4 billion, the NBU – $1.3, the World Bank – $1 billion, EU – $0.79 billion, the report says.
Epicenter K LLC (Kyiv) is negotiating the financing of a project to expand grain storage infrastructure, purchase of agricultural machinery and grain hoppers for the amount of over EUR 100 million with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
“The Epicenter K company is in the negotiation process with the European Investment Bank regarding obtaining a loan of more than EUR 100 million, but the company has not yet made a final decision on obtaining it,” the company said.
As reported, the EIB board of director on November 14, 2019 approved a project to provide financing for the expansion of grain storage infrastructure, the acquisition of new agricultural machinery and equipment, as well as railway cars for grain transportation.
The bank expects that, thanks to the project, 1,100 additional permanent jobs will be created for new operations, 300 workers will be hired for the construction period and 15-20 local subcontracting small and medium-sized enterprises will be involved.
The EIB also indicates that this operation is covered by the political risk guarantee of the European Union for EIB loans outside the EU.
Epicenter K has been developing the agricultural business since 2016. The agricultural division of the Epicenter K group of companies cultivates over 120,000 hectares of land in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Cherkasy, and Kyiv regions. The group also includes 20 livestock farms and six silos. Epicenter K plans to reach one million tonnes of grain storage capacity.
