AVELLUM acted as the Ukrainian legal counsel to Private Joint Stock Company with Foreign Investments “Slobozhanska Budivelna Keramika” (“SBK”) in connection with the restructuring and refinancing of SBK’s debt, valued at approximately EUR20 million. Atlas Advisors, an independent investment banking firm, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the SBK’s shareholders in connection with the restructuring of the credit portfolio, attraction of financing for the debt’s refinancing, and buy-out of SBK’s shares.
The deal covered (1) the restructuring and refinancing of SBK’s debt to an international financial institution (“IFI”) and a number of foreign and Ukrainian banks (“Banks”), and (2) a new refinancing facility from another Ukrainian bank. Following the restructuring, the IFI and the Banks left the deal.
Within the equity part of the deal, SBK’s shareholders repurchased from the IFI and one of the Banks those SBK’s shares that were previously sold to them by way of security.
Founded in 1997, SBK has become one of Ukraine’s largest brick and ceramic block manufacturers. SBK offers the complete production cycle from clay extraction to the shipment of finished goods. The manufacturing facilities of SBK include two plants located in Romny city (Sumy region) and Ozera village (Kyiv region), having the total annual manufacturing capacity of 150 million bricks. SBK has its own raw material base consisting of four quarries located in different Ukrainian regions.
AVELLUM’s partner, Yuriy Nechayev noted the following: “It was a complex and challenging transaction which included both debt and equity aspects. We were delighted to guide our client through each stage of this successful restructuring.”
The AVELLUM team was led by partner Yuriy Nechayev, with support from associates Tetiana Mykhailenko, Dmytro Tkachuk, Oleksandr Kulykovskyi, and Anna Mykhalova.