IBcontacts Company Has Successfully Closed the Deal on Trade Finance in Ukraine

Kiev, Ukraine, December 22, 2011 --(PR.com)-- IBcontacts company has successfully closed a five-year Buyer’s Credit export finance deal for one of the leading confectionery factories in Ukraine ALC “ZhL.” IBcontacts was in charge of structuring the project, preparing analytical documentation (financial, marketing and legal analysis of the borrowing company business activity/project) and providing legal advising.

This deal was nominated for the Deal of the Year 2011 annual award by TFR (Trade & Forfaiting Review, London).

The loan was granted by the international financing bank to “ZhL” in order to finance purchase of new confectionary production lines. The deal was insured by the Dutch state export credit agency (ECA) Atradius Dutch State Business NV.

The deal appears to be a challenging one in the current Ukrainian economic and political circumstances as attraction of direct export financing from foreign banks has been almost impossible for Ukrainian buyers. Previous to this deal direct buyer’s credit scheme was accessible only for huge industries and country leaders in Ukraine with billionth turnover.

“The main accomplishment of the present deal is that it has opened the market of international finance to the Ukrainian companies that are not among top 100, including 'ZhL' confectionary factory with the annual turnover of 100 mln dollars. Our project, supported by the export financing market specialists from IBcontacts company, has become an important achievement for us and started a new stage in the development of our company,” commented on the deal the Managing Director of "ZhL" confectionary factory Mr. Yevgen Gamov.

“This deal is a proven fact that deals of the kind are way more advantageous for Ukrainian companies than obtaining a loan from a Ukrainian financial institution as the effective loan amount rate is significantly lower than the ones provided by Ukrainian banks, there is no need in the pledge and terms are more acceptable for the borrowers from Ukraine. The realization of such investing projects is strategically important for the national companies as it helps to increase production capacities of the company and its competitiveness in the long-term prospects,” commented on the deal the Managinag Director of IBcontacts company Ms. Kateryna Barabash.

This was also s confirmed by the respective representatives of Atradius and Rabobank during the Second International Seminar on Trade and Project Finance organized by IBcontacts on November 8, 2011 in Kyiv, Ukraine, where the deal was presented to the Ukrainian business audience as a part of the case-study session.

“Main criteria that made the deal possible were transparency of the borrowing company, well-structured corporate organization of the business, excellent payment behavior and correspondence of the loan amount to borrower’s turnover,” summarized the project Han Bartelds, vice-president of Rabobank.

During the structuring of the deal between “ZhL” and Rabobank the experts of the IBcontacts company made a special emphasis on the legal appraisal. "On this stage we faced many challenging aspects, including the consideration of all legislative intents regarding credit agreements, conducted between the Ukrainian residents and their foreign partners and its registration in the National Bank. But this experience helped us to develop an efficient mechanism for the conclusion of such agreements. It will allow us to close similar deals of the Ukrainian companies in the shorter period of time,” underlined the Head of Legal Department of IBcontacts company Oleg Dorofeev.

ZhL confectionary factory is one of 5 leaders in the confectionery market of Ukraine. There are 8 workshops functioning at the factory that produce all groups of confectionery products. The product range includes more than 250 items. The products of the company are exported to Germany, US, Israel, Russia, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan, etc.

IBcontacts company specializes in developing trade relations between Ukrainian companies and their foreign partners. The company works in the fields of export, project and structured finance, credit management and trade facilitation, providing full range of financial, market research and legal services.

Atradius is one of the world’s leading credit insurers, with total income of more than EUR 1.5 billion. Atradius insures trade receivables against non-payment and offers a wide range of credit management products and services, varying from tailor made credit insurance and global solutions, to international debt collection and online services.

Rabobank Group is an international financial services provider. It offers banking, asset management, leasing, insurance and real estate services. Rabobank International has activities in the Netherlands, Europe, North and South America, Australia/New Zealand and Asia. It has a worldwide office network, with branches in 30 countries.

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