Karanović & Partners advised Pannonia Green in a multi-million EUR biogas project financing transaction with OTP Group, one of the largest banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe. Pannonia Green is a joint venture between ClonBio Group, a market leader and large-scale producer of bioproducts and renewable energy in Europe and America, and Asicon, a Croatian energy and property developer.
Financing has been provided with the purpose of supporting the ongoing construction of six biogas power plants, currently being developed and constructed in the province of Vojvodina by three Serbian-based project companies, all subsidiaries of Pannonia Green. All six biogas power plants are expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Organic matter from which, among other things, biogas is produced, has gained significant attention in the recent period throughout Europe due to its high potential to produce clean, waste-free energy from almost any kind of agricultural products. In that sense, Serbia (with a particular focus on Vojvodina) where agriculture is widely spread, has been praised as one of the best places in Europe for agricultural processing investments, including biogas.
ClonBio Group, which already operates Europe’s largest grain biorefinery and Hungary’s largest biogas and biomethane production facility through its Hungarian-based subsidiary Pannonia Bio, recognized Serbia as one of its key investment markets in the future. ClonBio is also the largest biogas and biomethane producer in Slovenia.
Karanović & Partners advised ClonBio Group from the very beginning of its investment route in Serbia, including the entire process for the acquisition of project companies, the joint venture agreements with Asicon and all preparatory steps that led to project financing.
The project financing itself consisted of preparation of the due diligence report, support in negotiations and signing of the entire financing documents package, including the facilities agreement and all other financing and security documents, as well as advising on all relevant local law aspects of the financing.
Our team was led by Partners Maja Jovančević Šetka and Petar Mitrović and included Senior Associates Tijana Arsenijević and Katarina Tomić, as well as Associates Jelena Tripković and Dimitrije Ilić.
Partner, Senior Associate, and Associate refer to Independent Attorney at Law in cooperation with Karanovic & Partners.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.