Mriya IV

completed

Mriya is an agricultural crop producer in Ukraine. The project is to provide an A Loan in the amount of US$60 million in the form of a 3-year working capital facility (“WCF”) to replace IFC’s existing US$35 million 3-year working capital facility due for final repayment in March 2014. The proposed WCF will feature an annual clean-up in March to match Mriya’s working capital requirements (the “Project”). The WCF would be renewable after the clean-up subject to specific requirements and conditions. Mriya Group is focused on large-scale cultivation of wheat, rapeseed, corn, sugar beet, potatoes and, to a lesser extent, barley, buckwheat, and soybeans. Mriya operations are located in a 150 kilometer radius from the Company’s headquarters within five regions in western Ukraine: Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv, all of which benefit from a favorable climate for the growth of the Company’s crops. Mriya operates grain storage silos, a seed plant, and controls the operation of six sugar plants. The sugar plants are associated facilities to the Company’s agricultural operations and are controlled in order to support cultivation of sugar beet, which improves crop rotation, and is a source of additional value. The Group has one of the largest portfolios of leasehold arable land in western Ukraine and extensive storage facilities for its products. Its vertically integrated value chain includes the leasing of arable land, crop planning, primary production, seed processing, crop handling, storage and sales. In 2012, Mriya produced 1,071,738 tonnes of grains, principally wheat, corn, barley and buckwheat, and oilseed and rapeseed crops, as compared to 693,760 and 499,078 tonnes in 2011 and 2010, respectively. In addition, the Company produced 956,088 tonnes of sugar beet in 2012, as compared to 1,480,732 tonnes in 2011 and 1,700,000 tonnes in 2010; it also produced 134,792 tonnes of potatoes in 2012, as compared to 134,000 tonnes in 2011 and 87,600 tonnes in 2010. At 31 December 2012, Mriya had 298,041 hectares of land under management. In 2012, grain production in Ukraine reached 46.2 million tonnes, representing 18.6 per cent decrease, compared to 2011. This was due to factors outside of the control of producers, such as drought, and winter frost. Agricultural operations are organised into 14 clusters.The founders of the Company (the Guta family), have more than 20 years of agricultural experience. The Company is focused on maximizing sustainable profitability through the use of modern farming equipment and technologies and high quality inputs, including fertilizers, crop protection products and seeds, and capitalizing on economies of scale. Mriya has implemented modern cultivation practices, including with respect to crop planning and crop rotation. The Company invests significantly in employing, training and retaining a highly-skilled work force. In 1998, Mriya began producing its own grain seeds and it is now 95 per cent self-sufficient in wheat and barley seeds, 95 per cent self-sufficient in potato seeds, and 90 per cent self-sufficient in rapeseed seeds.