Asters acted as a Ukrainian law counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in connection with their loans to JSC “Concern Galnaftogaz” (GNG), Ukraine’s largest company in retail distribution of transportation fuels in terms of sales volume and third largest by number of filling stations. 

EBRD and IFC are providing long-term corporate loans to finance the company’s CAPEX and working capital needs. The project implementation will allow the company to develop GNG’s Farmer-Supply Program, improve its logistics infrastructure and grow its fuel stations network, including the installation of electric charging stations. 

Asters’ banking and finance team advising on the project consisted of partner Iryna Pokanay, counsel Gabriel Aslanian and associates Inna Bondarenko and Viktoria Zagreba.

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EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1993, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of more than €15 billion through 466 projects in Ukraine.

IFC – a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. IFC works in more than 100 countries, using its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2019, IFC invested more than $19 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.

Asters is the largest law firm in Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Washington D.C., Brussels and London. Chambers Europe 2020 recognizes 21 lawyers of Asters – the largest number of the renowned practitioners in a single Ukrainian law firm.