The Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) has closed criminal proceedings against former head of Mriya Agro Holding Mykola Huta, who was suspected of fraud, the Slovo i Dilo portal has reported.
The Huta case was closed on Dec. 29, as “there was no criminal wrongdoing in his activity”. Materials of the case were not handed over from SAPO to the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
Mriya Agro Holding is a vertically integrated agribusiness, which was founded by Ivan Huta in 1992. The holding’s land bank is 165,000 hectares. Its grain elevators are able to store 380,000 tonnes.
In August 2014, Mriya reported an overdue payment of about $9 million in interest income and about $120 million in repayment of debt on its obligations. The total debt to all financial creditors, taking into account the guarantees provided to the companies related to the Huta family, was about $1.3 billion at the time of the holding’s default.
In early February 2015, the operating control of the holding was transferred to creditors who elected the new management, and in September 2016 the committees of creditors and bondholders of the holding agreed on the conditions for the restructuring of the company’s debt, which was estimated at $1.1 billion. The debt restructuring ended in August 2018. Mriya’s total debt burden decreased from $1.1 billion to $309.5 million, which included $49.3 million in restructured secured debt, $208.1 million in restructured unsecured debt (eurobonds), $46 million in working capital, and $6.1 million in assets under a new leasing program for the purchase of equipment.
In September 2018, SALIC UK Limited announced the acquisition of the holding. The deal was completed in November 2018.
Mriya will continue operations in Ukraine together with SALIC UK’s subsidiary, CFG.
Rothschild & Co (France), ICU, FinPoint (both from Ukraine) and Hogan Lovells Law Firm (UK) acted as advisers to Mriya during preparations for the deal and as creditors during the debt restructuring process.
The Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Sovereign Fund of Saudi Arabia. The company invests in the production of agricultural and livestock products.
CFG has been operating in Ukraine since 2006. It processes 45,000 hectares in Lviv and Ternopil regions.
