OREANDA-NEWS. On May 18, 2007 Raiffeisen Bank Aval and OJSC Galnaftogaz Concern signed a $50 million loan agreement in Lviv. The loan was provided to Galnaftogaz for seven years, reported the press-centre of  Raiffeisen Bank Aval.


"This is our largest loan agreement with a Ukrainian bank," Galnaftogaz Director General Yuriy Kuchabsky said during the official signing ceremony for the loan. "Our cooperation with Raiffeisen Bank Aval has lasted for seven years already, and we appreciate its support". The loan funds would be spent on the development of the company's own filling station chain, which works under the OKKO brand, particularly in Central and Eastern Ukraine, namely: on building and purchase of filling stations, reconstruction of the existing stations in compliance with OKKO standards.


On the side of Galnaftogaz concern, the agreement was signed by Yuriy Kuchabsky, director general, and on the side of Raiffeisen Bank Aval - Artur Iliyav, deputy chairman of the board, and Serhiy Boyko, director of Lviv oblast directorate. The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of the authorities, NBU, industrial companies of the region. Specialist of the Universal Investment Group (UIG) provided consulting support in arrangement and signing the loan agreement.


"Just several year ago, the volume of loans, given by all the banks of Lviv region, hardly amounted to UAH 50 million. Today we became witnesses of a real historical event, when the sum of just one loan agreement equals USD 50 million", was commented by Mykola Polyovyi, head of the central economic department of the Lviv oblast state administration.


Galnaftogaz concern (www.galnaftogas.com), which is part of the Universal Investment Group, owns the OKKO chain of filling stations. The concern is among the largest owners of filling stations in Ukraine. It runs over 216 filling stations and 15 petroleum storage facilities in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Ternopil, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions, and in the city of Kyiv. The consolidated profit of Galnaftogaz concern for 2006 according to the national standards of financial reporting amounts to UAH 35,2 million; EBITDA in 2006 made up UAH 134 million.


Raiffeisen Bank Aval (www.aval.ua) (before 25 September 2006 - Bank Aval) was founded on 27 March 1992. Since October 2005, the bank has become part of Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (as at 1 January 2007, the Group owned a 95,63% stake in the bank. Raiffeisen Bank Aval is the largest bank in Ukraine as measured by capital, and the second largest bank in terms of assets. As at the beginning of 2007, the Bank was providing services to more than 3,9 million of households and about 240 thousand large, medium and small enterprises.


Providing services to corporate clients is one of Raiffeisen Bank Aval’s priorities. As at the end of 2006, the Bank served approximately 17% of Ukraine’s large-scale businesses. Joining Raiffeisen International provided a number of additional advantages to the Bank. Among others, it is a streamlined access to cheaper longer-term funding from the international markets, which allows not only to increase the tenor of the loans, but also to improve liquidity management of the Bank. Moreover, introduction of new technologies and know-how in the Bank’s practices, development of new and more sophisticated products for corporate customers is yet another advantage of being a part of Raiffeisen International Group.