Boosting Ukraine’s agribusiness sector resilience via investment loan

• To boost Ukraine’s agribusiness sector resilience, EBRD provides €100 million investment loan package
• €40 million from EBRD’s account, €60 million from parallel and B-lenders to leading producer
• MHP improvements include making production more efficient, diversify product portfolio and geographically, training and reintegrating veterans

To strengthen food security and resilience in wartime Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is arranging a financing package of up to €100 million for a leading Ukrainian agribusiness producer’s investment programme.

The EBRD will lend €40 million to agribusiness products producer MHP on its own account, while parallel lenders and B-lenders will provide the remaining €60 million.

Food security is one of the five investment priorities of the EBRD in Ukraine, along with energy security, vital infrastructure, trade and the private sector. The EBRD, Ukraine’s largest institutional investor, has made more than 7 billion available to Ukraine in wartime.

The company will use the finance to invest in energy security, improve production and operational efficiency and diversify geographically to mitigate the impact of the war, including by constructing a pet food plant in Croatia.

The financing will also support human capital improvements, giving young people new training opportunities, improving internal human resources practices for women, and strengthening support for veterans being reintegrated into the 30,889-strong workforce with new psychological training. MHP has already reintegrated 373 veterans into the workforce and 2,483 more are still serving in the army.

Technical cooperation support for this operation will be provided via the Action for Equality and Gender (A4EG) Multi-Donor Fund, the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund and the EBRD Digital Hub SSF Fund.

MHP is a leading international food and agrotech group and Ukraine's largest producer of poultry, culinary, and processed meat products. After disruptions in 2022, it has re-established supply and export routes to continue to export to more than 70 countries. MHP also supports thousands of smaller businesses, including more than 2,000 small retail stores and 2,500 local farmers in Ukraine.