KYIV - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will issue a senior secured loan of up to $80 million to Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, a bank official has said.
A corresponding project was approved by the EBRD Board of Directors on Wednesday, EBRD Principal Advisor in Ukraine Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine.

The loan funds will be used to consolidate the existing EBRD loans to the group and provide additional long-term financing for the further development of agricultural and sugar infrastructure, as well as the expansion of the group's land bank and the construction of a dairy farm.

Astarta is a vertically integrated agribusiness with five regional divisions in Poltava, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions. Its core business is the production of sugar, grain and sunflower seeds, as well as meat and milk production. Astarta in 2010 increased its net profit by 2.7 times, to EUR 80.04 million. Its consolidated income last year grew by 71%, to EUR 219.33 million.

Last year Astarta processed 1.56 million tonnes of sugar beets and produced 200,000 tonnes of sugar, which was about 13% of Ukraine's overall production of sugar made of sugar beets, making the company the No. 1 beet sugar producer in the country.

The company's land bank in the first quarter of 2011 was 225,000 hectares. The company plans to increase its size to 250,000 hectares.

NOTE: ASTARTA KYIV LLC is a member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Washington, D.C. www.usubc.org.