US investors take control of Odesa grain terminal from GNT Group — FT

American investment funds Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners are restarting operations at the Olimpex Coupe International grain terminal in Odesa port after regaining control of the asset. The terminal was previously owned by Ukraine’s GNT Group, founded by Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, Financial Times reports.

“The Zelenskyy administration recently helped two American funds recover a $95 million debt from the Odesa magnates who previously owned the terminal and failed to repay loans. During the chaos of russia’s invasion, they allegedly misrepresented grain pledged as collateral,” the article states.

Following the May arrest of Volodymyr Naumenko on fraud charges brought by creditors, Ukraine’s Supreme Court approved the transfer of the terminal on Wednesday.

“As with any emerging market, there are things to be prepared for. But in Ukraine, even during war, we’ve been able to uphold the rule of law. It took time, but we got there — that’s always been my thesis on Ukraine,” said John Patton, partner at Argentem Creek.

The U.S. funds had previously won a $150 million international arbitration award and several UK court rulings but faced a protracted battle in Ukrainian courts before Wednesday’s resolution.

“Our role was purely coordinative — we brought the issue to the attention of the relevant authorities. This case once again shows that Ukraine is a rule-of-law country,” said Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“Ukraine has huge potential for attracting investment, but it must shed the reputation of being a high-risk environment due to fraud,” said Carl Sturen, a veteran Swedish entrepreneur in Ukraine who will now manage the terminal.

Patton added that they hope to resume operations at the terminal “sometime this summer.”

“It might be as late as September, but with harvest season underway, now is the right time to restart,” he said.

The conflict dates back to December 2022, when GNT Group and its creditors — Argentem Creek and Innovatus — entered a public legal dispute. The grain terminal was part of the battle, with Innovatus accusing GNT of fraud over the alleged disappearance of $25 million worth of grain. GNT denied the accusations, calling them an attempted corporate raid.