The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a long-term loan of up to USD 40 million to GN Terminal Enterprises Ltd (Cyprus), a member of the GNT Group, for financing expansion of the capacity of a grain terminal in the port of Odessa, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
According to Anton Usov, a senior EBRD adviser for external affairs, the bank's board of directors made the relevant decision at a meeting on Wednesday, 11 November. He said that the signing of the loan agreement is scheduled for December.
The project involves expansion of the capacity of the terminal and its storage capacity, the cost is estimated at USD 69 million. According to the EBRD, the the terminal was initially named Serseris Grain Terminal. Serseris Holdings Limited (Cyprus) is a subsidiary of CHS Europe SA, which is part of CHS Inc., a major American agricultural company with revenues of USD 14.32 billion in 2014.
CHS Inc. announced in the spring of 2009 that it had begun investing in a joint project with GN Terminals (Odesa) for creation of a grain terminal near Odessa with a handling capacity of 2 million tons per year. It was stated at the time that CHS would manage part of the terminal, including its transport infrastructure, via CHS Europe’s office in Geneva (Switzerland) and that it would also market all its grain.
The EBRD portfolio already includes a project with CHS that was completed in 2010. According to the relevant documents, the EBRD provided this company USD 120 million for expansion of its export operations.
As for GNT, at the end of February this year the EBRD approved a loan of up to USD 18.7 million by a subsidiary of GNT Olimpex Holding Ltd. (Cyprus) for construction of a grain drying and cleaning complex at Odessa port. According to the EBRD, the complex, which has an annual capacity of 0.5 million tons, will be integrated into the company’s transhipment terminal at the port, through which about 2.4 million tons of of grain was exported last year.
GNT Olimpex Holding Ltd unites private suppliers of forwarding and stevedoring services, as well as services involving transshipment of bulk cargo. In Ukraine, it owns Olimpex Coupe International Ltd.
