Asters acts as a legal counsel to the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) in connection with its USD 5 million financing to "Novotech-Terminal" Ltd, a Ukrainian private stevedoring company.

A seven-year loan will assist the company in expanding and modernizing its grain terminal transshipment complex in the major Odessa Sea Trade Port. The Novotech’s development plan targets to increase the grain terminal’s capacity up to 2.5 million tons per year.

Asters' banking and finance team advising on the project consisted of partner Iryna Pokanay, counsel Gabriel Aslanian and associate Inna Bondarenko.

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The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s.

"Novotech Terminal" LLC is a private stevedoring company, established in 2004 at the Odessa Sea Trade Port in Ukraine. The Company is involved in export, import and transit operations with direct loading of metal and grain through warehousing, providing consumers with a wide range of services.

Asters is a full-service independent national law firm that has maintained a strong presence in Ukraine since 1995. Asters has been acknowledged as the Law Firm of the Decade by Ukraine's Legal Awards 2016. The Firm is a two-time winner of the Law Firm of the Year: Ukraine and the CIS award (The Lawyer European Awards 2014 and 2015), Law Firm of the Year (Ukraine) award (Who's Who Legal Awards 2014), Law Firm of the Year award (Ukrainian Legal Awards 2014) and is also named No.1 law firm in Ukraine according to the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Top 50 Law Firms Annual National Ranking.