Ukraine's Nova Post raises $20 mln loan from Credit Agricole
MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Ukrainian company Nova Post has raised a $20 million loan from the Credit Agricole Bank to buy out cargo and postal terminals in the Lvov region in order to enhance the company's logistics capacity in western Ukraine.
"The term of the loan is five years. The money will be used to develop a logistics hub in Lvov," Ukrainian media quoted Nova Post as saying.
The loan funds will also be used for automation and installation of new advanced sorting lines, which will triple the hub's capacity, it said.
"This is not the first loan to Nova Post from the Credit Agricole Bank. The new agreement consistently promotes our strategic cooperation. When it is time to fund large-scale international projects, we want to have a reliable credit reputation with leading European banks," Nova Group CFO Pyotr Fokov was quoted as saying in the statement.
Nova Post LLC, the Ukrainian largest logistics operator and a Nova Group member, intends to acquire Nova Development LLC (Sokolniki village, Lvov district, Lvov region), which is primarily involved in leasing and operating its own or leased real estate.
As reported, in late February this year, the Ukrainian Anti-Monopoly Committee authorized Nova Post to purchase over 50% in Nova Development, the legal successor of Best Logistics Group, which was engaged in the construction and leasing of logistics facilities and was part of the Globus full-cycle development holding.
Best Logistics Group has already collaborated with Nova Post in building a sorting terminal in Lvov in 2019, with investment in its construction totaling almost 10 million euros, while Nova Post's investment stood at around 4 million euros. Nova Post was responsible for the equipment, while Best Logistics Group was in charge of building the facility, Vyacheslav Klimov, co-founder of Nova Group, said.
Nova Development's authorized capital, according to the state register, is UAH 186.4 million, while Best Logistics Group had it at UAH 1 million. Vladimir Fenik is named as a beneficiary through the Magistrate Invest corporate venture investment fund.
According to Nova Post's report for H1 2024, its debts to banks stood at UAH 3.4 billion as of the middle of this year, including UAH 489.2 million to a subsidiary of the French bank, UAH 1.474 billion to that of an Austrian bank, UAH 420.3 million to that of a Hungarian bank and UAH 4.4 million to that of a German bank, as well as two Ukrainian bank loans totaling UAH 747.7 million.
Nova Post LLC increased its unconsolidated net income 20.1% to UAH 20.12 billion in H1 2024, but the company's net profit dropped 38.1% to UAH 1.49 billion.
