BSTDB Boosts Support to Agricultural Export in Ukraine
Press Release | 10-Sep-2019
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is contributing up to USD 15 million to a pre-export finance facility provided to Kernel Group, a leading player in the Ukrainian agricultural market and the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil. The BSTDB loan will be used to finance the Group’s purchases of sunflower seeds in Ukraine, primary processing, storage and transportation and subsequent export to other countries.
The BSTDB financing is part of a USD 390 million secured syndicated facility contributed by a group of international commercial banks.
“Supporting agriculture, food processing and export are BSTDB’s key priorities in Ukraine largely contributing to economic growth and state revenues. Our strengthening cooperation with Kernel Group as a major producer and exporter generates an important development impact in the country and contributes to the regional trade,” said Dmitry Pankin, BSTDB President.
BSTDB has an established cooperation with Kernel Group, having successfully completed a pre-export and a capex finance operations to the total amount of USD 45 million. Cumulatively, BSTDB has signed over 40 operations in Ukraine, having disbursed EUR 540 million.
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Kernel Group is a leading vertically integrated Ukrainian agribusiness player with domestic and international operations. It is the largest oilseed crusher in Ukraine (3.5 million tons of sunflower seeds annual capacity) and the largest bottled oil producer and marketer in Ukraine. The Company is the number one sunflower oil producer and exporter in the world and distributes it mostly in bulk to all major importing markets, including India, Iraq, Europe, China and other destinations.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. For information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org.
Press contact:
Haroula Christodoulou
Phone: +30 2310 290533
E-mail: cchristodoulou@bstdb.org
Twitter: @BSTDB
