Ukraine's Olimpex Coupe Grain Terminal comes under new ownership

Lavanda Spectrum has acquired the controlling assets of the former Olimpex Coupe Grain Terminal, now renamed Lavanda Terminal, at the Port of Odesa in Ukraine.

Lavanda’s acquisition follows efforts by creditors in international and Ukrainian courts to reverse asset stripping carried out by the terminal's former owners.

Lavanda assumed physical control of Lavanda Terminal earlier this week and has appointed Swedish entrepreneur Carl Sturen as Chief Executive Officer.

Sturen is a co-founder and former owner of food processing company Chumak. He also served as President of the renewable energy firm and investment company the Vindkraft Group, whose assets have fallen under illegal occupation by the Russian Government, according to a press release issued by US-based Argentem Capital Partners (ACP) shortly after the terminal acquisition.

On Wednesday, July 9, the Supreme Court of Ukraine ruled in favour of Oleksii Sokol, the court-appointed bankruptcy manager of Olimpex Coupe international, upholding the decision by the Western Commercial Court of Appeal made on April 7, 2025.

The original decision returned control over the dry port to the court-appointed bankruptcy manager so the latter can re-establish operations and resume overdue payments to the company’s creditors.

"Ukraine has so much potential to attract investment, but it has to shake off the reputation that doing business in Ukraine is high risk due to fraud," said Sturen.

"Attempts to defraud US investors failed and those culpable are out of business. We are grateful for the support of the authorities and [the] Office of the President for finding time to work on improving the investment climate during this horrible war."

The acquisition of the terminal by Lavanda follows the enforcement of mortgages granted to Madison Pacific as security trustee under loans that GN Terminal Enterprises (GNT) received from ACP.

ACP said the Ukrainian courts have also reversed several fraudulent transfers through which the former owners of GNT, Sergiy Groza and Volodomyr Naumenko, had sought to strip assets – including substantial elements of the terminal complex – from GNT.

ACP said the enforcement followed a multi-level legal battle between Groza and Naumenko and their creditors, ACP and co-lenders Innovatus Capital Partners (ICP). ACP and ICP provided US$95 million to finance the terminal and were granted a comprehensive security package to protect their investment.

In June 2024, a Ukrainian Court found that Groza and Naumenko had leased the former Olimpex Coupe and MetalsUkraine terminals to Agiros, an entity sanctioned by the Government of Ukraine and linked to smuggler Vadym Alperin, for the storage, transshipment and export of so-called "black" grain.

In October 2024, Groza and Naumenko were sentenced to 21 months in prison by an English High Court judge, Mr Justice Bryan, for breaching asset disclosure orders made in connection with a worldwide freezing order obtained by Madison Pacific in January 2023.

In an earlier ruling, the High Court noted the, “very real risk of dissipation [of assets],” adding that the case is, “one where the evidence [of dissipation by Groza and Naumenko] is as strong as any that [the judge has] ever seen.”

In January 2025, a London Court of International Arbitration Tribunal ordered Groza and Naumenko to pay approximately US$150 million in respect of outstanding debts owed to ACP, interest and costs. These debts are still being pursued.

Naumenko was arrested in May 2025 on suspicion of fraud and forgery related to the unexplained disappearance of more than 100,000 tons of grain pledged as collateral for the ICP loan.

ACP and ICP are continuing enforcement action to protect their position.