EBRD provides €7 million to Ukrainian farm operator

Grain Alliance Group in Ukraine will receive financial support, thanks to a new agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). According to the bank report, a €7 million working capital loan will support Grain Alliance’s operations affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Asters, the largest law firm in Ukraine, acted as a legal counsel to the EBRD in connection with its financing to Grain Alliance Group.

Asters told Promote Ukraine that the loan would allow the group, which cultivates over 50,000 thousand hectares of land in northern Ukraine, to withstand the impact of the pandemic. It will also enable Grain Alliance to implement an investment programme aimed at the expansion of its grain storage facilities and the introduction of energy efficiency measures.

The financing will help the agricultural operator maintain its capital expenditure plans, which were part of the initial project between the EBRD and the Grain Alliance, approved in 2019. Asters acted as the EBRD’s legal adviser for the signing of both agreements. In general, Asters regularly advises the EBRD and IFC on providing numerous secured loans to Ukrainian companies in various sectors of the economy totalling more than $ 2 billion.

Technical assistance for this project is provided by the government of Japan. The EBRD launched two Solidarity Packages in response to the Covid-19 crisis and now expects to dedicate its total business investment of up to €21 billion in 2020-21 to overcoming the economic impact of the crisis.

Ukraine’s Grain Alliance Group is owned by Claesson & Anderzen of Sweden. The headquarters are in Stockholm, but all operational activity is located in Ukraine, according to the company’s website. The Ukrainian headquarters is in the town of Berezan, approximately 80 km from Kyiv.