American businessmen win control of major Odesa grain terminal - FT
Photo: Olimpex terminal (latifundist.com)
US-based investment funds Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners have taken control of the Olimpex grain terminal in Ukraine's port of Odesa following a lengthy legal battle tied to suspected fraud involving pledged grain, the Financial Times (FT) reports.
The terminal has an annual capacity of close to 5 million tonnes and is one of the largest in Ukraine.
According to the FT, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration played a key role in helping the US investors recover $95 million from the Odesa-based oligarchs who previously owned the terminal but failed to repay loans.
Court dispute
The two funds had previously won a $150 million international arbitration case and several rulings in UK courts, but struggled for years to enforce them in Ukraine. A turning point came in May, with the arrest of businessman Volodymyr Naumenko, followed by a Ukrainian Supreme Court decision in July.
"Our role in this case was purely coordinative - we drew the attention of the relevant authorities," said Andriy Yermak, Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office
Yermak also added that "this case is yet another confirmation that Ukraine is a rule-of-law state."
Investigators allege that Naumenko's GNT Group defrauded investors by securing loans backed by nonexistent grain stocks. The pledged goods were reportedly destroyed at a facility in Sumy.
Odesa terminal
American investor John Patton described the Olimpex terminal as one of the hubs for shadow grain exports, adding that enforcement against such practices has ramped up significantly over the past year.
Argentem Creek now plans to restart operations at the terminal as early as September, just as Ukraine begins its harvest season - a critical time for grain exports.
Earlier, Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Vitaliy Koval warned that the country's 2025 grain harvest could fall by 10%, to 51 million tons.
