Aequo has acted as Ukrainian law counsel to the EBRD in connection with its extension of a UAH-denominated loan — its first ever — of an amount equal to USD 20 million to OTP Leasing LLC.
The loan will be utilized for financing leasing transactions with private Ukrainian companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises under the EBRD's SME Local Currency Programme. According to Aequo, "having borrowed the UAH loan OTP Leasing will be able to reduce its financial indebtedness in foreign currency."
Aequo's team was supervised by Partner Yulia Kyrpa and included Senior Associate Denys Kulgavyi and Associate Valeriy Savva.
"We are honored to have represented EBRD in this very first successful and long-awaited project within EBRD's SME Local Currency Programme in Ukraine," said Kyrpa. "Benefiting from its status of an international financial institution EBRD may extensively meet funding needs of its clients, now also in UAH. It is a significant support for OTP Leasing, enabling it to expand its leasing portfolio without taking any associated FX risks. This transaction is an important milestone in both the financial and leasing market of Ukraine."
Editor's Note: After this story was published, Sayenko Kharenko announced that it provided legal advice to Raiffeisen Bank Aval in connection with UAH 514 million financing launching the UAH lending program of the EBRD in Ukraine.
According to Sayenko Kharenko, "EBRD will use the UAH funds for financing its Ukrainian clients. We note that earlier the EBRD has been providing only foreign currency loans to Ukrainian companies, however, recently, the National Bank of Ukraine has permitted international financial institutions to give UAH loans."
"We believe this is a landmark deal for Ukraine and we are happy to assist the EBRD with the launch of their hryvnia-denominated lending, which will allow to continue to support Ukrainian companies and to contribute to the development of the Ukrainian economy," noted Victoria Masna, Head of Financial Institutions at Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
Sayenko Kharenko’s team was led by Partner Nazar Chernyavsky and included Senior Associate Maria Tsabal and Junior Associate Glib Bukharin.
