Salans Advises a Syndicate of Banks on a USD 150 Million Syndicated Loan Facility to PJSC Creative

Salans advised a syndicate of banks (the “Lenders”) on a USD 150 million syndicated loan facility to PJSC Creative.  Lenders under the Facility are PJSC Ukrsotsbank, a member of UniCredit, Erste Group Bank AG and VTB Bank (Austria) AG.  UniCredit Bank AG and PJSC Ukrsotsbank acted as Arrangers and Agents in this transaction.

The loan facility is structured as a dual tranche short-term committed, annually extendable financing.  The proceeds will be used to finance the purchase, storage and processing of the Borrower’s sunflower seed prior to its transformation into commodities destined for sale on the domestic market or export under export contracts.

Creative Group is the no. 2 producer of vegetable fats and margarines in Ukraine with a 35% market share. It also produces bottled refined sunflower with a 11% share in the domestic market and ranks among the top 6 producers of bulk sunflower oil in Ukraine. The Borrower was the 8th largest exporter of sunflower oil and the 4th largest exporter of sunflower meal in the first 6 months of the marketing year 2010/2011.

Salans’ team was lead by Natalia Selyakova (Partner, Kyiv) with key support from Mateusz Toczyski (Partner, Warsaw), Roger Vallance (Of Counsel, London), Olesya Zhmak (Associate, Kyiv) and Denis Kulgavyi (Paralegal, Kyiv) assisting the Lenders in drafting the Facility Agreement and the Security Documentation related to this transaction.