JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has reported its debt portfolio shrank by 9.94 percent from Hr 34.2 billion in December 2017 to Hr 30.8 billion in August 2018.
If the existing level of Ukrzaliznytsia’s financial solvency is maintained, the company can increase its loan portfolio by an additional $1 billion, it said, and added that this would contribute to a more effective implementation of the five-year development strategy, which foresees significant investment.
“Now we are considering the possibility of placing loan participation notes (LPN). At the same time, we can talk more about this later, after the relevant government decision is officially announced,” Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia’s board Yevhen Kravtsov is quoted as saying.
Ukrzaliznytsia also said that the reduction in its debt burden has allowed the company to improve its position on key covenants of contracts with international financial organizations. In particular, there is a decrease in the current unpaid debt and the level of interest cover is growing.
“The Net Debt/EBITDA indicator decreased to 1.5; the EBITDA / Net interest expenses slid from 6.2 to 4.2. According to our international agreements with the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Net Debt / EBITDA, we have covenant 3 This means that while maintaining the current level of EBITDA, we can increase our portfolio by a sum from Hr 25 billion to Hr 30 billion,” Kravtsov said.
