The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a $120 million loan to the Epicenter K group of companies for the development of agricultural infrastructure in Ukraine, the press service of the group reported.

According to its data, the corresponding nine-year loan agreement was signed on December 22, 2021.

The loan funds will be directed to the construction of elevator complexes for the storage of grain and oilseeds, as well as to the development of supporting infrastructure.

"The Epicenter K group of companies continues to develop dynamically and invest a significant amount of funds in the Ukrainian economy. In addition to scaling the retail network, we are expanding our own production and elevator capacities, implementing new logistics and infrastructure projects ... We also hope that this project will become a significant contribution to development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine," CEO of the group Petro Mykhailyshyn commented on the agreement with the EIB.

The attraction of the loan will allow Epicenter K to introduce the most modern technologies and management processes aimed at expanding its activities in agribusiness. The newly built facilities will also provide an opportunity to create new jobs, and this will not only have a positive impact on the development and improvement of social conditions in local communities, but will contribute to the economic growth of Ukraine as a whole.

The agricultural assets of Epicenter K are united under the Epicenter Agro brand. It processes 167,000 hectares of land in six regions of Ukraine, is in the top seven largest latifundists of Ukraine in terms of land bank area and the top five largest private operators in the domestic market of linear elevators.

Over the past five years, since the acquisition of the first elevators, Epicenter Agro's simultaneous storage capacity has increased six-fold, to more than 1.5 million tonnes. In total, the structure of the agricultural holding includes 15 elevator complexes, eight of which are route complexes. The largest grain elevator hubs of the agricultural holding are located in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions.

The total amount of investments of Epicenter K in the development of the agricultural sector during 2016-2021 exceeded UAH 10 billion.