The Kiev Economic Court decided on 8 June 2015 to stop the implementation of a project involving construction of a grain terminal at the Ilyichevsk seaport (Odessa region), the Forbes.ua publication reports.
The Cargill Ukraine agricultural company owns the site, which is located on the territory of the Ilyichevsk seaport, and it is intended for construction of a grain terminal. The court decided to transfer the site to Mykola Lahun’s insolvent Delta Bank.
The court decision is a continuation of the story involving the bankruptcy of Delta Bank, one of the largest banks in the country. The main shareholder of the bank is Lahun (70.6% of the bank’s shares). Cargill owned about 29% of the shares.
"The court decision denies the world’s top agricultural company Cargill of the opportunity to implement a project involving construction of a grain terminal in the Odessa region. After the loss of production and elevator capacities in Donetsk, this means that the company needs to radically rethink its investment policy in Ukraine," said Ruslan Pavlenko, a crisis management consultant with the Sotsintel company, commenting on the decision of the court.
"Despite the wave of indignation by depositors, the bank's management has not been affected and an investigation of its activities has not been conducted. It has primarily affected the Cargill company, which collaborated with Delta Bank," said the expert.
The court decision surprised Cargill because all the circumstances indicated that the company was legally right, said Forbes.ua. Cargill has written to the leadership of Ukraine to ask it to facilitate establishment of uniform rules and conditions for all investors.
Cargill is one of the world's largest producers and suppliers of food and agricultural products. In Ukraine, the company owns two oil extraction plants in the Donetsk and Kherson regions and six elevators. Cargill also owns 5% of the shares in Ukrlandfarming, the largest agro-industrial holding company in Ukraine. The holding company controls about 670,000 hectares of land, including about 12,000 hectares in the Crimea and about 35,000 hectares in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
