Ukrainian sunflower oil producer PJSC Creative has signed its first pre-export finance facility with a group of international banks.

UniCredit acted as the off-shore security agent, as well as one of the mandated lead arrangers on the US$150mn deal, which is structured as a dual-tranche short-term committed, annually extendable financing.

The other banks involved in the facility include Erste Group Bank and VTB Bank as mandated lead arrangers and Unicredit’s PJSC Ukrsotsbank, as local security agent and local account bank.

The proceeds will be used to finance PJSC Creative’s sunflower seed purchases, storage period and processing period until the seeds have been processed into the commodities – which will be sold on the domestic market or exported under the export contracts.

Yuri Davydov, CEO of PJSC Creative says: “This transaction represents a key milestone in successful implementation of our business strategy, it allows for securing a stable funding for raw materials purchases and enlarging the company’s presence at international financial markets.”