Asters Law Firm acted as a local transaction counsel to International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in connection with USD 25 million working capital loan to one of the largest agricultural producers in Ukraine – Astarta.

This investment will help Astarta to purchase crops from local farmers during the harvest season, when the availability of crops is at peak and the prices are normally the lowest, thus allowing Astarta to achieve sustainable supply of raw materials for processing and limit its margin volatility.

Asters' banking and finance team advising on the project consisted of partner Iryna Pokanay, counsel Gabriel Aslanian and associate Inna Bondarenko.

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IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, IFC uses the capital, expertise, and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15, IFC's long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly USD 18 billion, helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.

Astarta is a leading primary agriculture producer in Ukraine with 250,000 ha of land under cultivation. Astarta’s principal activities include production of sugar beet and white sugar, production of other crops including wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, and soya, soybean processing, and cattle farming. The company owns and operates 9 sugar plants, soybean processing plant, bioenergy complex, and chain of grain silos and supporting infrastructure facilities in 4 regions in Ukraine.

Banking and finance are the areas of Asters' core expertise. The Firm and its partners are noted as the best practitioners in Ukraine in this field by international peer review-based ratings such as IFLR1000, Legal 500, Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, etc. Asters' clients in the banking industry include international and local banks and financial institutions, trading and finance companies, as well as lenders, issuers, and borrowers in diverse banking and finance transactions.