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EBRD, ING make first loan in Odessa region
$30 million loan to finance working capital for the new oilseed crusher
The EBRD and ING Bank N.V. are lending $30 million to Ukraine’s newest oilseed
crushing plant, near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. It is the EBRD’s first
project in the region.
The revolving credit is for Illichevskiy Maslo Extractionniy Zavod (IMEZ), a
50/50 joint venture between ADM Nederland B.V., a subsidiary of U.S.-based
Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world’s largest oilseed processors, and
Risoil SA, a Swiss-registered agricultural trading company and port operator.
The EBRD will hold an “A” loan of $15 million and remain lender of record for
the whole facility, while ING Bank N.V. takes the full “B” loan of $15
million, with ING Ukraine acting as local security agent and payment bank.
The IMEZ plant, in the port of Illichevsk outside Odessa, will produce crude
sunflower oil and sunflower meal.
Hans Christian Jacobsen, Director of Agribusiness at the EBRD, said the loan
will help support investment in a sector – edible oil – where Ukraine has a
competitive advantage due to its typical surplus in sunflower seeds, low costs
of production and geographical position. The project is the latest of an array
agri-commodity finance provided by the Bank throughout the region.
ING is pleased to support this strategic investment of ADM, its important
global client, as well as to contribute to further development of Ukraine’s
agricultural sector, one of the country’s key sectors of economy. ING's
participation is part of its overall strategy to provide pre-export finance
facilities to commodity exporting companies, as well as to expand its banking
business in Ukraine by offering a full range of services to its customers
through ING's subsidiary in Kiev.
“ADM is pleased to partner with EBRD on this endeavour,” said J. Kevin
Burgard, Vice President-European Operations. “Through our joint venture, ADM
will continue to cooperate with sunflower-seed growers in Ukraine to create
markets for their products in Ukraine and around the globe.”
Director of Risoil SA Ukraine, Igor Yanchev, said: “Risoil has found a partner
for this project in ADM and the project represents a logical extension to its
trading and infrastructure activities in the region.”
The EBRD is the largest investor in Ukraine, with €1.7 billion in 67 projects.
Across its 27 countries of operations, the Bank has invested €3.3 billion in
more than 220 agribusiness projects.
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