REUTERS
The company is implementing the policy of upgrading its facilities and infrastructure.
The Ukrainian national railways company PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia has placed loan participation notes (LPN) worth about US$100 million, having increased the total issue of corporates to $600 million.
The final maturity date of the additional corporates issue is 2024 with an effective rate of 7.292% per annum.
"Today, Ukrzaliznytsia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in the presence of Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii, signed a framework agreement, under which 70% of the raised US$ 100 million will be used to upgrade the railway infrastructure of the Trans-European Network - Transport (TEN-T)," the ministry's press service said in a statement on Sept 10.
Moreover, the company will allocate another 30% of the funds for upgrading dispatch signaling and communication facilities, as well as for improving the railway traffic monitoring system.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Yevhen Kravtsov, the company is implementing the policy of upgrading, as after the investment into updating of cars and locomotives it will invest in infrastructure development.
"We and our partners from the EBRD decided to partially renew the railway track of the TEN-T transport corridors through which about 80% of all transit cargo passes. In addition, we commit ourselves to update dispatch and communication devices," the press service quoted Kravtsov as saying.
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The CEO also added that thanks to the measures, Ukrzaliznytsia would be able to attract additional transit cargos, reduce their transit time through Ukraine and, as a result, increase the company's revenue.
"Ukrzaliznytsia and the EBRD are set to agree soon on a plan for the implementation of the agreement, which will determine the full list of upgrade projects. Materials will be purchased in line with EBRD rules. This ensures maximum transparency of the process. Tenders participants can be both residents and non-residents of Ukraine. This will attract a wide range of participants. We plan to complete all works on our own as early as 2020. To this end, we have sufficient resources, both human and technical," Kravtsov said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in early July 2019, Ukrzaliznytsia, for the first time after a six-year pause, raised funds worth $500 million from the international capital market. The bond coupon rate is the lowest since 2011 among Ukraine's quasi-sovereign borrowers.
At the beginning of January 2018, the EBRD, Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry and Ukrzaliznytsia signed an agreement on the allocation of a EUR 150 million loan attracted under state guarantees for the electrification of the Dolynska-Mykolaiv-Kolosivka railroad section. The total cost of the project is estimated at over EUR 367.9 million. It was planned to borrow funds worth EUR 300 million from international lenders, while the remaining amount provide at the expense of the company's own funds. The project was planned to be implemented before 2021.
UNIAN memo. The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment exceeding EUR 12 billion through 400 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.