The EBRD is providing a seven-year loan of up to US$ 25 million to support the expansion of Ukraine’s major retail chain Novus, which is owned by Lithuanian shareholders. The project is part of the Bank’s strategy to facilitate investment in the development of storage, transport and distribution infrastructure as well as to modernise food and agricultural processing in Ukraine.
The loan will be used to finance the expansion of Novus, which is aiming to open a new logistics centre and 10 new stores in Kiev and the Kiev region by the end of 2018.
The project will also introduce energy- and resource-efficiency improvements as well as climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures, in line with the Bank’s Green Economy Transition approach.
The introduction of resource-saving technologies will be supported through a US $500,000 grant from the EBRD Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) Ukraine. In particular, Novus will introduce LED lighting across all of its stores, along with advanced control systems, air and water heat-recovery systems, free-cooling systems and many other improvements.
Sevki Acuner, EBRD Director for Ukraine, said: “The transaction is an important opportunity to support cross-border investment into Ukraine, an example that can be followed by other international companies contemplating investments in the country. It will help increase the percentage of modern retail stores in Ukraine, thus boosting the quality of food distribution and food safety.”
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost €11.7 billion through 384 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
