Aequo Advised Naftogaz On The Landmark EUR 500 Million Revolving Loan Facility From EBRD

Aequo advised Naftogaz on the landmark EUR 500 million revolving loan facility from EBRD. This is the largest project the EBRD has ever signed in Ukraine and one of the largest in the Bank’s history overall.

For the first time, the loan is provided under a European Union guarantee within the UIF HiBar programme and will not require a sovereign guarantee from Ukraine. The funds will be directed to financing natural gas purchases.

Naftogaz Group will purchase gas on competitive terms from more than 30 prequalified suppliers. Contracts will be concluded in accordance with the standards of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), an organization that unites over 120 European companies and aims to increase the transparency and efficiency of the European energy market, promote competition, and ensure a reliable energy supply.

“We are grateful to Naftogaz, our long-standing client, for their trust and engaging us to assist with this extremely important transaction aimed at strengthening the capabilities of Naftogaz, as well as energy security and energy independence of Ukraine. We are also thankful to EBRD and the European Union for their relentless support of Ukraine and development of the new financial instruments – to enable Ukrainian strategic SoEs to raise funds without a sovereign guarantee”, commented Yulia Kyrpa, Executive partner of Aequo.

Aequo team, having worked in close cooperation with the Legal Team and the Treasury department of Naftogaz, assisted with negotiations of the draft revolving facility agreement, fulfilment of conditions precedent, and issuing a legal opinion in favour of EBRD.

Aequo team included Oleg Krainskyi, counsel, Dmytro Shudrenko, Konstantyn Dovhan and Sofiia Voloshanivska, associates and was led by Yulia Kyrpa, Executive partner.