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EBRD lends Russia edible oil company €146.5 million
Loan to help Yug Rusi modernise plants, become more competitive
The EBRD is lending Yug Rusi, the largest edible oil producer in Russia,
€146.5 million to help the company modernise its plant and develop a capital
expenditure programme, provide working capital, and help restructure its
balance sheet by refinancing existing debt.
The loan will help Yug Rusi implement a new strategy which includes
identifying new sources for raw materials, increasing supplies and expanding
geographically. It also supports local farmers, and will increase efficiency
and productivity by developing the company’s own packaging facilities.
The loan has an A/B structure, with the B Loan, comprising 50 percent of the
overall financing, fully underwritten by ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and to be
syndicated to other commercial banks in the coming weeks.
Gilles Mettetal, EBRD Director for Agribusiness, said the Bank’s loan will
help Yug Rusi become even more competitive – both domestically and
internationally – in the growing Russian edible oil market. The loan will also
help boost the local economy, and support local farmers by acquiring their raw
materials. A large facility to a local Russian client, facilitating
development of key agricultural region fits very well within the EBRD’s
Agribusiness strategy and is a good example of what the Bank is trying to
achieve in Russia, he added.
Established in 1993 as a grain trader and flower mills operator, Yug Rusi has
expanded to a vertically integrated agro-industrial group including edible oil
plants, grain terminal, silos, bakeries and over 20 agricultural farms. Today
the company, which employs over 10,000 people, is one of the largest Russian
sunflower oil producers, grain traders and the leader in the Russian bottled
edible oil market.
Anushavan Simonyan, ABN AMRO’s Global Head of Structured Commodity Finance,
said that the innovative structure of the facility, in which a number of
classical commodity finance elements are combined with the more usual
structure of EBRD facilities, should strongly support the interest of the
market in the B-Loan, which carries a 5-year tenor. ABN AMRO’s relationship
with Yug Rusi dates from many years ago and the bank has closely been involved
with the company’s impressive growth and development during that time.
Vladimir Badakh, General Director of Yug Rusi Managing Company, said Yug Rusi
plans to modernise agricultural production in the region which, while
benefiting local farmers, will help the company’s strategy to develop further.
Yug Rusi will also produce sunflower oil certified according to the
international “Bio” standard, providing maximum ecological benefits. By
producing more high-quality and ecologically clean sunflower oil, Yug Rusi can
satisfy additional demand from Russian and international markets in Europe,
Asia, and Africa, said Mr Badakh. The cooperation with the EBRD and ABN AMRO
is an important element that will support Yug Rusi's development, he added.
To date the EBRD has committed €4.2 billion in nearly 290 projects to assist
the agribusiness sector in central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
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