Investments

Friday, July 2

The Rada yesterday ratified four agreements between France and Ukraine totaling €1.3 billion. The transaction includes buying 130 electronic freight locomotives from Alstom and €140 million worth of drinking water projects for Kyiv and Luhansk. The projects are largely French-financed.

Two weeks from today, on July 16, Odesa is to inaugurate its new 2.8 km reinforced concrete runway, long enough to handle long haul, transcontinental jets . The day before, the airport will be closed all day July 15 to prepare for switching to the new runway. Delays in opening the runway gave the airport time to receive from Germany four telescopic brid...

Thursday, July 1

International investors with 23 projects totaling $1.35 billion have applied for ‘investment nannies’ with UkraineInvest, announced Serhiy Tsivkach, the Executive Director of the investment promotion office (Interfax-Ukraine). The office has 14 employees working on the project, which is designed to cut red tape. This mon...

Tuesday, June 29

The 27-nation EU Council approved yesterday an open skies airline agreement with Ukraine . Scheduled to be signed this fall, the deal will “promote trade, tourism, investment and economic and social development,” the Council said. The accord, “neighborhood aviation agreement”, will requir...

Ukzaliznytsia wants the government to spend $1.5 billion over the next three years to renew cars for passenger trains, UZ CEO Ivan Yuryk tells the railroad’s press office. Referring to UZ’s plan to buy 670 passenger cars, 43 suburban electric trains and five high-speed InterCity trains, he says: “Supporting the railwa...

In a first step, UZ signed an agreement to buy 100 new passenger cars from Kriukiv Railway Car Manufacturing Plant, in Kremenchuk, Yuryk announced to the UZ press service. He said this is the first time in the history of independent Ukraine that budget money is being us...

“We have received final rulings for many of our claims from the Supreme Court, ” Deitz told the Rada. “However, UZ seems to feel that it is above the law and not bound by the Supreme Court.” After 20 years and $1 billion invested in Ukraine, Deitz concluded that UZ’s “actions ca...

Thursday, June 24

In Ukraine, Metinvest is planning to make high quality steel at its Illyich plant in Mariupol. Due to the lack of high quality steel, “there is no development of machine building or home appliances,” Ryzhenkov said. “It is impossible to attract a car manufacturer here.” In Italy, Metinvest is i...

Two-way China-Ukraine trade in farm goods jumped by one third, to $5.7 billion, during the first four months of this year, compared to January-April of last year, reports Ukraine’s Economy Ministry. Chinese investment in Ukrainian fisheries and food processing plants was discussed yesterday at a bilateral agricultural coo...

Wednesday, June 23

In the first auction since the central bank decided to keep the prime interest rate unchanged at 7.5%, sales of Ukrainian government bonds jumped by 39% yesterday, to the equivalent of the $416 million, the Finance Ministry reports on Facebook. Cut off rates remained the same: 6 months – 9%; 13 months – 10.99%; 18 months. – 11.3%; 2-year – 12%; 3-year – 12.3%; and 5-year...

Tuesday, June 22

Despite this ongoing $150 million investment, Deitz said he has frozen four wind projects totalling 260 MW. “The biggest problem is that we don’t see stability,” said Deitz, an American with over 20 years experience investing in Ukraine. “The rules seem to change every day.” He cited the government’s failur...

On the other side of Ukraine, in southern Zaporizhia region, Norway’s NBT starts construction this summer of Zophia, a 75-wind turbine farm with a capacity of 338 MW. Coupled with NBT’s 246 MW Syvash wind farm, operated in Kherson region with France’s Total Eren, NBT says it will have attracted €1 billion in foreign investment into Ukraine. “Every project that is s...

This year, renewables will account for 70% of total investments worldwide in electricity , the International Energy Agency says in a new report. Renewables, largely wind and solar, will get $530 billion, the Agency says in the 64-page study. This year, for the sixth year in a row, investm...

Ukravtodor’s Eurobonds, offered under sovereign guarantees, were three times oversubscribed last week , Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov writes on Facebook. Ukravtodor received applications for nearly $2.4 billion and placed $700 million. With the yield on the 7-year bonds priced at 6.25%, t...

Thursday, June 17

Privatization receipts will increase fourfold this, reaching $450 million, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the Deputy Chief of Presidential staff, predicted yesterday at a government forum “Ukraine 30. Economy Without Oligarchs.” Starting prices for three big government corporation ...

The Bolshevik site, located on Peremoha Avenue with adjacent parks and the Shuliavska Red line metro station, could attract an estimated $500 million in residential and office construction, according to Serhiy Tsivkach, the Executive Director of UkraineInvest.

Dutch company Bontrup plans to invest €50 million in ‘green’ energy project in the Chornobyl exclusion zone , the Economy Ministry has report. Over the investment cycle the project could grow to €1.5 billion, providing jobs for 10,000 workers, the Ministry said. With projects in 25 countries, Amsterdam-base...

South Korea’s Caris plans to build a $60 million plant in Stryi, Lviv region to manufacture highway guardrails from plastic waste , reports the Economy Ministry. The factory would employ 900 workers, and would benefit from the Zelenskiy Administration’s ‘Big Construction’ which includes a major highway safety component. Yu Cheol...

Wednesday, June 16

President Zelenskiy said that two large state companies – power producer Centrenergo and chemicals producer Odesa Port Plant – will be auctioned online auction in the coming months . “Centrenergo is completely ready,” he told reporters, speaking of a company that has 23 power plants across the country. Centrenergo has an installed capacity of 7,690 MW – equivalent to half the ca...

Returning to the rhetoric of two years ago, Zelenskiy said: “My will is that the state should get rid of everything as much as possible. I agree with the position of the Europeans and the United States that the state is not the coolest manager....

Japanese and Australian companies dominate among 13 foreign companies planning to bid this summer for the United Mining and Chemical Company. The starting price is $140 million for the company, Europe’s largest producer of titanium. Writing in Focus, financial journalist Kirill Sazanov compares this privatization to the sale of Krivorozhsta...

This summer, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to lease out 41,000 square meters of commercial space in the nation’s 24 busiest passenger stations , Ivan Yuryk, acting CEO of the state railroad, told reporters yesterday at a government development forum. These leases could bring in $4 million a year to the money-losing railroad. At the end of th...

In a second step, the nation’s 11 busiest stations are being prepared for long-term lease under concession contracts with strategic investors . Already six foreign and domestic investors have shown interest in the concessions, scheduled to start in 2023. “What do we see at the exit?” asked Yuryk. “Citizens and guests of our country, arrivin...

The Finance Ministry raised almost $300 million – in hryvnia and euros – in its weekly bond auction yesterday , the Ministry reports on Facebook. With yields little changed, sales totaled slightly less than half the amount sold last week. For hryvnia bonds, yields ranged from 10.97% for 1-year bonds, to 12.59...

Attracted by high interest rates, international investors increased their investment in Ukrainian government bonds by $377 million this month, prompting the central bank to buy $415 million. Despite the purchases, Ukraine’s currency s...

Ukrainians received about $400 million in profit from bitcoin investments, ranking 10th highest in the world, according to the Digital Transformation Ministry, citing a study by Chainanalysis. The top three were: US – $4.1 billion; China – $1.1 billion; and Japan – $900 million. Six months a...

Tuesday, June 15

Ukravtodor, the state highway agency, plans to issue its first dollar Eurobonds under a sovereign guarantee , reports Interfax-Ukraine. Local and international banks including JP Morgan, Dragon Capital and Ukreximbank are arranging the placement. Calls to investors start today for the bonds, which have tenu...

International investors have spent more than $315 million buying Ukraine’s government bonds last week, the largest amount in almost two years. ICU writes of last week’s auction: “It appears that foreigners purchased more than half of last week’s issuance in local currency.” Foreigners now hold ov...

Monday, June 14

SoftServe, the IT company based in Lviv and Austin, Texas, will build a high tech ‘campus’ on an extensive 13-hectare site of a former prison in a southern part of Lviv city . SoftServe, a global outsourcing giant with 9,000 employees, outbid six other companies last week, paying $14 million – almost triple the starting auction price.

Oleg Denys, co-founder of SoftServe said of the former prison site: “The idea is to create a neighborhood where you can collect talents and have all the conditions for the development of these talents in the city, have futuristic offices, educational institutions.”...

The successful online auction of Lviv Correctional Colony № 48 is to be the first privatization of 35 shuttered prisons put up for sale in a program started this year. Two prison sales – one in Odesa and one in Irpin, a northern suburb of Kyiv – failed due to a lack of bidders. Justice Minister Denys Mayluska hopes the Lviv sale will generate investor interest. A se...

Friday, June 11

Italy-Ukraine trade increased by 39% during the first five months of 2021 to $2.1 billion , Prime Minister Shmygal said. Italy’s export credit agency After a 6-year break, Italy’s export credit agency, SACE, recently resumed lending to Italian companies under contracts with Ukrainian compa...

Thursday, June 10

The Finance Ministry’s weekly auction raised $700 million in hryvnia and equivalent, 20% more than last week’s auction . Hryvnia rates were virtually unchanged Tuesday: 6 months – 9%; 14 months – 11.2%; 18 months – 11.3%; 2-year – 12.05%; and 3-year – 12.3% per annum. The novelty was a 5-...

International buyers are back in the market, ICU has reported. “Last week foreign investors purchased UAH 2bn [$74 million] of new bills in addition to reinvesting funds they received from redemptions,” the investment group wrote of last week’s ...

Two years after Ukraine started to cooperate with Clearstream, external investment in government bonds has doubled, the share of public debt in national currency has increased to 39%, and 5-year bonds have won acceptance, the Finance Ministry reports. In a press conference last week with representatives of the Luxe...

Although down 24% from the February 2020 peak, this current investment accounts for almost 10% of the bonds in circulation. Ministry officials say that foreign investment contributed to the sharp decrease in weighted average yield on hryvnia bonds...

16 business centers will open in Kyiv, with a total area of 376,000 square meters by the end of next year , Radomyr Tsurkan, managing partner of CBRE Ukraine, predicted last week in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. “The collapse of the offices that scared everyone at the start of the pandemic did not t...

Wednesday, June 9

Metinvest plans to build a $1 billion modern cold rolling mill at its Ilyich Metallurgical Plant in Mariupol, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the company CEO announced to Ukraine 24 TV yesterday. He said: “Literally next week we will sign a contract for the construction of a new cold rolling mill. This is already a billion ...

President Zelenskiy plans to spend $9 billion during the three remaining years of his term to rebuild and repair 43,000 km of national roads and 119,000 km of local roads , reports the Finance Ministry. The expenditure in critical infrastructure is included in the Budget Declaration for 2022-2024, which was approved last week by the Cabinet of Ministers. Denis Ulyutin,...

To speed construction of Kyiv’s 150 km Bypass Road, the Rada passed a bill exempting the $3.2 billion project from ProZorro procurement and public tenders , Max Nefyodov, a Kyiv City Councilman and former deputy Economy Minister, charges in an Atlantic Council blog. Under the headline “Ukraine’s post-2014 public procurement progress is under threat,” Ne...

Defending the measure, Serhiy Bykov writes on Facebook: “Current procurement rules close the opportunities for international players to enter the market, which can immediately bring money.” The new, streamlined approach, he...

International development banks are lending a total $130 million to two Ukrainian state banks which will provide finance for small and medium enterprises . The EBRD yesterday approved a loan of up to €25 million to ‘green-focused’ projects of SMEs. The World Bank is lending $100 million to Ukreximbank for it finance program supporting export oriented S...

Tuesday, June 8

In Odesa alone, the government is spending $92 million this year in a crash effort to restore irrigation . If the Rada passes the irrigation bill, Leshchenko tells the Kyiv Post he expects the EBRD and the World Bank to loan Ukraine $2 billion to rebuild its irrigation systems.

Investing in a timber industry for future generations, President Zelenskiy announced yesterday at a national ecology forum a goal to plant 1 billion trees over the three years remaining in his term . Recently, Ukrainians carried out a national campaign, planting 1 million trees in 24 hours. To plant 1 billion trees, it would be necessary to plant 1 million trees every day for three years. On a m...

Monday, June 7

Smart Energy plans to invest $400 million in gas production over the next decade , Serhiy Hlazuno, group CEO told reporters Friday. During this time, the group plans to drill 30 wells. At present, it has 29 operating wells. Last year, Smart Energy increased its natural gas product...

Wednesday, June 2

Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest private company saw its EBITDA increase almost four times in the first quarter yoy, to nearly $1.5 billion . Rising high iron and steel prices, saw revenues in the vertically integrated steel company increase by 43% yoy, to $3.6 billion. In a sign that the world recovery is spreading beyond China, sales to...

The EU and its European Investment Bank are investing €460 million to repair damaged infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk, reports Jean-Erik de Zagon, the bank’s resident representation in Ukraine. A first tranche of €120 million will be used to repair 168 buildings – largely schools, kindergartens, libraries, culture hou...

In Donetsk, the state highway agency is rebuilding 12 bridges and the access road to the front line city of Avdiivka. In a multi-year project, Ukravtodor is rebuilding this summer the 625 km stretch of the M-14 between Odesa and Mariupol. This east-west road links the ports of the Azov and Black Seas, giving exporter...

Tuesday, June 1

UDP developers are moving ahead with three ‘IT cities’ – in Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv, said the company vice president, Vitaliy Melnyk. In September, the company will open its 18,000 square meter ‘business campus’ at LvivTech.City. With a total planned buildout of 110,000 square meters,...

UNIT.City Kharkiv is to be twice as big, with 250,000 square meters of space, Melnyk told the press office of UFuture, the parent company. On this 9-hectare site, 3,000 square meters of school and office premises have opened.