Agro-industrial holding Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed a $40 million loan agreement to build Ukraine’s first soy protein concentrate plant, the agro-industrial holding’s press service said on Facebook.
Astarta noted that this investment is part of a financing package of up to $80 million approved by the IFC Board of Directors on April 1, 2025.
It is noted that the funds are secured by guarantees from the European Commission under the Ukraine Investment Framework and the Dutch government in support of the IFC Economic Resilience Action (ERA) program. The investment will contribute to job creation, increased competitiveness of the agricultural sector, and export diversification.
“This investment is an example of how strategic international partnerships transform challenges into long-term opportunities for Ukraine. By launching the country’s first soy protein concentrate production facility, we are integrating our country into global food chains, promoting economic recovery, industrial modernization, and job creation. Astarta is implementing this project as part of its sustainable agribusiness development strategy,” emphasized Viktor Ivanchik, CEO and founder of the agricultural holding company.
Alfonso Garcia Mora, IFC Vice President for Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, expressed confidence that this investment will help Ukraine produce more high-value agricultural products and move up the value chain.
“By improving the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and its integration into European markets, we aim to support recovery, job creation, and resilience,” he said.
According to European Union Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova, whose words are also quoted in the press release, Astarta’s new plant is an example of how joint efforts bring real results for Ukraine’s future.
In turn, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ukraine, Alle Dorgaut, noted that the Netherlands is pleased to contribute to the construction of Ukraine’s first soy protein concentrate plant.
“The IFC Economic Resilience Action (ERA) program provides support to critical sectors during the Russian invasion, including agribusiness (…) IFC’s investments in Ukraine are crucial, especially in the context of war, to ensure the vital recovery of the Ukrainian economy. In this context, international financial institutions, including the IFC as part of the World Bank Group, play a key role,” he stressed.
Astarta added that, in partnership with the Czech government, the IFC will also support the agricultural holding in conducting market and marketing research in Ukraine and provide advice on supporting local communities, youth, and older workers, facilitating the reintegration of veterans.
As reported, on April 1, the IFC approved a project to provide Astarta with an $80 million financing package for the construction of a soy protein concentrate plant in the Poltava region. The package will consist of: (i) a Loan A of up to $50.7 million from the IFC’s own resources, (ii) a loan of up to $24.4 million from the IFC, acting as the implementing agency for the Economic Resilience Program for Ukraine (ERA) with support from the Netherlands, and (iii) a Loan B of up to $40 million to be provided to the participants, provided that the total amount of the loans does not exceed $80 million.
In 2024, Astarta began investing in the construction of a soybean meal processing plant with a capacity of 500 tons/day (approximately 100,000 tons/year) at the Globinsky Industrial Complex (Poltava region). The agricultural holding will invest over EUR 76 million in the purchase of equipment and technologies and create 110 new jobs.
Astarta and its structural unit Astarta Agro Protein signed the first investment agreement with the Ukrainian government to receive compensation from the state for significant investments. Under the agreement, the state will provide the agricultural holding with a number of incentives, including exemption from import duties on new equipment, import VAT on new equipment, and income tax for up to five years.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In the first nine months of 2024, Astarta increased its net profit by 35.1% compared to the same period in 2023, to EUR75.60 million. The agricultural holding’s revenue grew by 12.6% to EUR441.46 million, and EBITDA by 12.8% to $131.56 million.
The Ukrainian company City One Development and the diversified investment corporation ITOXI Corp. (South Korea) have signed a memorandum of long-term cooperation, a partnership of a strategic nature aimed at developing glass production in Ukraine, the press service of City One Development toldInterfax-Ukraine.
“We are pleased that our efforts to attract a foreign partner from a friendly country have resulted in a real deal. This is only the first step on the long road to implementing our joint plans, and we are confident that our partnership will make an important contribution to the development of the Ukrainian economy,” said Valeriy Kodetsky, President of City One Development Group, as quoted in the press release.
It is specified that the memorandum, signed in April 2025 during the visit of the Korean delegation to Ukraine, stipulates that at the first stage of the project, two glass production plants will be built within the City of Glass (Berezan, Kyiv region) and Galicia (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region) industrial parks. This project will be an important milestone for the introduction of modern technologies, creation of new jobs and strengthening Ukraine’s position as a high-quality glass producer.
“We are confident that our joint work will open up new horizons for investment and technological progress. Ukraine has great potential and we are proud to be part of this ambitious initiative. The signed memorandum is an important milestone that confirms our intention to invest in the development of the country’s glass industry. We are currently finalizing an agreement to acquire a stake in the project,” said Alex Cheon, CEO of ITOXI Corp.
City One Development started construction of the first float glass plant in Berezan at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. The plant’s capacity is to produce 600 tons of glass per day, and the project is estimated at $140 million. It is being implemented as part of the Misto Skla IP. At the end of 2024, the company began construction of a second plant within the Galicia IP.
The first plant is expected to be commissioned in 2027 and the second in 2028.
City One Development is an investment and development company with over 15 years of experience. The company specializes in the creation, implementation and management of large-scale infrastructure residential complexes and actively invests in the development of Ukrainian industry.
City One Development’s portfolio includes more than 1 million 150 thousand square meters of completed projects and 600 thousand square meters under construction.
The company’s residential projects in the capital include: “Novopecherski Lypky, Boulevard of Fountains, Svyatobor Park Resort, and The Light. Among the industrial projects are two float glass factories within the City of Glass and Galicia.
ITOXI Corp is a leading investment company operating in various segments, from computer games to medical equipment and the implementation of large infrastructure projects in the international arena. In November 2023, ITOXI UA was founded with an authorized capital of UAH 8.7 million. The founders are ITOXI Corp (51%) and Roman Hryhoryshyn (49%).
According to the website, ITOXI UA is a platform for commercial B2B cooperation that connects Ukrainian companies with Korean partners. Currently, it unites 214 partners in Ukraine and 62 in the Republic of Korea, with more than 17 projects in the works.
Finland’s Peikko Group Corporation has announced the commissioning of an industrial building for a future plant for the production of concrete joints and composite structures in Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, with planned investments of EUR3 million, according to Dmytro Kysylevskyi, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic development.
“The import of equipment will continue through May, after which the plant will start producing products for the needs of the construction industry,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
The MP clarified that Peikko Group will take advantage of tax and customs incentives for participants in the IP. In particular, the legislation provides for the possibility of exemption from VAT and import duties on equipment imports. The company will create about 50 jobs.
Peikko Group has production facilities in 12 countries. Since 2023, the company has been represented in Ukraine by its subsidiary Peikko Ukraine, which participates in infrastructure rehabilitation projects. Peikko’s annual turnover in 2023 amounted to EUR262 million.
As reported, last summer Peikko Group entered into an agreement with Bila Tserkva for the construction of a turnkey plant for the production of concrete joints and composite structures with an area of 2400 square meters. Bila Tserkva and Bila Tserkva-2, with an area of over 24 hectares and over 34 hectares, respectively, are projects of the UFuture holding company owned by entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
AXOR Industry has invested a total of EUR 40 million in the launch, expansion and development of its window and door hardware plant in Dnipro since 2011, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko has announced.
“In 2011, AXOR built a plant in Dnipro, with initial investments of EUR 25 million. When a full-scale war broke out, the company not only maintained production but also continued to develop. In 2022-2023, it invested in new production facilities. Currently, the total investment amount is EUR40 million,” she wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
According to the report, the plant in Dnipro has a capacity of 8 million sets of fittings per year. Svyrydenko emphasized that this is one of the largest plants of its kind in Eastern Europe. AXOR exports its products to 27 countries.
“I am sincerely grateful to AXOR Industry, which proves that war is not an embargo on investment. The private sector of other countries, despite the challenges, is ready to invest in our country right now,” she said.
According to Opendatabot, the founders of AXOR Industry LLC are Funama Holdings Limited (Cyprus), AMC Altus Assets Assets in the interests of Altus Industrial Mutual Fund (Dnipro) and Basera Holding Limited (Malta). The ultimate beneficiaries are Mustafa, Hassan and Oan Irem Basher, as well as Sofia Kononenko.
In addition, in 2024, Vadym Iermolaiev, the owner of Alef Corporation, who was included in the Ukrainian sanctions list for 10 years in 2023, was removed from the list of beneficiaries.
In 2024, AXOR Industry increased its revenue by 5.6% to UAH 627.8 million and its net profit by 18.4% to UAH 19.5 million.
The Chinese company SHAC will invest 40 million euros in the construction of a plant in Novi Sad, Serbia. The company has already signed an agreement with the German automaker BMW. The plant is expected to open by the end of 2025, with the first serial deliveries to European customers scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
Other Chinese investment projects in Serbia:
Energy sector: In May 2024, the Serbian Ministry of Mines and Energy signed two agreements with Chinese companies totaling about €2.7 billion. These investments include the construction of an oil and petroleum product refinery in Smederevo and the construction of a solar panel plant in Paracin.
Infrastructure: The Chinese company Shandong High-speed Group is involved in the construction of the Belgrade-Zrenjanin-Novi Sad highway, as well as in the reconstruction project of the Constantine the Great airport in Niš.
Automotive industry: Mei Ta has invested 60 million euros in the construction of a plant for the production of automotive components in Obrenovac.
These projects demonstrate the expansion of Chinese investment in various sectors of the Serbian economy, contributing to industrial development and job creation in the region.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/741
The Chinese company Jiangling Group Electric Vehicle (JMEV) plans to build an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Sremska Mitrovica in northwestern Serbia with the long-term goal of exporting cars to the European Union without paying duties. This was reported to Radio Free Europe by Brancica Zjalic, JMEV project manager in Serbia.
“The size of the investment will be determined in the next two months and depends on whether we will produce three thousand or five thousand cars a year,” Zjalic said. She added that Serbia was chosen because of its good economic relations with both China and the EU. “Serbia is a kind of bridge between China and Europe in terms of sales of electric vehicles,” she said.
In October 2024, the European Union imposed high duties (up to 35%) on electric vehicles made in China for five years to protect European automakers from allegedly unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers that benefit from government subsidies.
Serbia, for its part, signed a free trade agreement with China that entered into force in 2024, which has drawn criticism from the EU given Serbia’s status as a candidate for accession to the Union.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/542
