KYIV. April 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The World Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is to lend $95 million to Kernel Holding S.A. and its subsidiaries for financing their working capital.
The Board of Directors will decide on the loan on May 10, IFC said in an announcement on its website.
“IFC loan will support a leading grain trader, crusher and a primary agricultural producer with significant linkages to the economy of rural areas. Kernel employs over 14,500 people on a full time basis, including 8,690 in its farming division. Through its wide origination network Kernel annually procures in excess of 2 million tons of sunflower seeds and more than 3 million tons of grains from about 5,000 farmers. In 3 years, the company plans to increase its procurement volumes by 30%, which would expand its reach to 6,500 farmers,” the announcement reads.
IFC’s financing will be channeled throughout the agri supply chain (farmers,
SMEs) and will also inject additional liquidity into the Ukrainian agri sector, which currently experiences working capital shortages.
Kernel is a vertically integrated company which has been operating in the Ukrainian agribusiness sector since 1994. The group produces sugar and sunflower oil, distributes bottled oil under the brand names Schedry Dar, Stozhar and Chumak Zolota, exports oil and grain, and provides elevator storage services for grain and oilseeds.
Kernel in the first half of the 2016 fiscal year (July 2015-June 2016) saw net profit rise by 79%, to $140.4 million while revenues fell by 19%, to
$998.7 million.
