Investments

Friday, August 13

In what could be a $150 million contract, Chornobyl’s Exclusion Zone Agency is launching a tender for construction of a facility to store vitrified high level nuclear waste for 100 years . In the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear disaster, a French consortium, Novarka, built the €1.5 billion New Safe Confinement. An American company, Holtec International, built the first stage of what is ...

Thursday, August 12

Next month, a $100 million, 33-silo grain handling terminal is to be completed at Odesa port , reports Ports of Ukraine news site. Partly financed by the EBRD and constructed by Brooklyn-Kiev and Louis Dreyfus Company, the Franco-Dutch food processing firm, the complex will launch Brooklyn-Ki...

Wednesday, August 11

Building on Ukraine’s first state port concessions to private investors, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation is training Ukraine government personnel to manage these concessions – at Kherson and Olvia ports, the IFC’s Ukraine office reports. Over the n...

A 35-hectare ‘dry port’ is to be built in the Lviv Region border town of Mostyska , the Economy Ministry reports. Designed to create 1,100 jobs, the dry port will be an industrial park hosting export-oriented companies: sawmills, furniture manufacturers, producers of polymer buildi...

In the first year since gambling was legalized, the industry brought $37 million to the state budget, the Gambling and Lottery Regulation Commission reported Tuesday. This is one quarter the amount forecast one year ago. The gambling industry has been slow to expand due to delays in adopting regulatio...

Monday, August 9

To promote the sales and service of electric cars, the EBRD is loaning €20 million to Winner, Ukraine’s leading importer and retailer of electric cars. To be matched by Winner’s investment of €23 million, the money will go to building environmentally sound dealerships for Renault and Volvos, t...

Thursday, August 5

With six major state companies scheduled for privatization auctions during the second half of this year, 75% of revenue is to come from “the sale of ‘blue chips,’ the worn-out but potentially competitive industrial giants inherited from Soviet Ukraine,” Dmytro Sennychenko, head of the State Property Fund...

Wednesday, August 4

The Cabinet of Ministers has extended for three more years work on Ukraine-Poland border checkpoints. Financed by a €100 million low interest loan originally extended from Poland in 2016, Ukravtodor is spending €68 million to upgrade road approaches to six checkpoints; the Customs service is spending ...

Monday, August 2

The state-owned, ‘Bolshevik’ machine building plant will go up for auction in October with a starting price of $52 million , Dmitry Sennychenko, head of the State Property Fund, writes on Facebook. Given its location on Kyiv’s Peremohy Avenue and next to Shuliavska Metro station, the 35-hectare site is could attract as mu...

Conditions include paying $19 million in debts and back wages and investing $2 million in “preservation of basic activities.” ” Founded 140 years ago, the most modern machinery dates from 1983. With 315 employees, the state company only generated $3 million in revenue last year. KPMG Ukraine is the privatization advisor.

President Zelenskiy signed a law last week allowing the National Bank of Ukraine to issue a digital currency , the e-hryvnia. The central bank “will also be able to set up a regulatory sandbox to test new services, technologies and tools in the payments sector,” reports Bitcoin.com. “The platform will allow ...

Promising to start drone deliveries of packages next year, Nova Poshta tested sending a Discovery drone with a parcel from Chaika airfield, outside of Kyiv, to Korotych airfield, outside of Kharkiv. The drone successfully made the 480 km flight in five hours....

Thursday, July 29

1,000 infrastructure facilities are under construction this summer in all of Ukraine’s 24 regions, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy presidential chief of staff, said yesterday at the Ukraine 30 Decentralization forum. In addition to a record amount of highway construction, the government is building 100 k...

Tuesday, July 27

Canada and Ukraine are preparing a project to produce a modernized version of the An-74TK-200 mixed cargo and passenger jet for international markets, focusing on North America, Ukroboronprom reports. In March, Kyiv’s Antonov opened Antonov Aircraft Canada in Montréal, the business capital of Québec. The largest of Canada’s 10 provinces, Québec is a...

Under a proposed bilateral cooperation document, “design and final assembly” of the jet would be done in Québec, Desmond Burke, head of Gold Leaf Aviation, an Ontario company representing Antonov’s interests in Canada, tells Le Devoir newspaper. Appropriate for Canada, the Soviet-designed aircraft operates...

One disadvantage, writes the Capital Hill Group, an Ottawa lobbying group working on the project, is a “critical dependence on the use of a significant number of components produced in Russia, which in turn do not meet...

Canada’s largest investment in Ukraine, the US$1 billion Black Iron mining and processing plant in Kriviy Rih, is being held up by delays at Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Matt Simpson, CEO of the Toronto-based mining company, tells RBC-Ukraine. If the Defense Ministry completes a binding agreement on transfer of...

Monday, July 26

Major investments in energy efficiency for factories and apartment buildings could reduce by half Ukraine’s gas consumption during the 2020s, said Vitaliy Shcherbenko, Naftogaz Director of Energy Efficiency, tells Den news site. This reduction could eliminate Ukraine’s need to import 10 bcm of gas every year, he says. Investments are needed...

Wednesday, July 14

Next year the EU will spend €750,000 to secure Ukraine’s place in the EU battery supply chain. Šefčovič said that the funding is “to help Ukraine to align its regulatory mining framework to that of the EU, committing to the highest environmental, social and governance standards.”

Monday, July 12

Concorde Capital’s Alexander Paraschiy wrote: “The placement rate implies a spread to the sovereign curve of 247 bps, which looks too high for a quasi-sovereign issuer. Two years ago, Ukrainian Railways issued a new bond with a 155 spread to the ...

Friday, July 9

A full plan, dated June 2020 “includes a ‘roadmap’ for the creation of a ‘vertically integrated aviation defense consortium’ that could bring $10 billion in revenues and investment, ” Time reports. The project lost momentum after Trump lost the election and Prince’s two main associates in Ukraine came under criminal investigation in New York. Prince’s sister, Betsy De Vos, steppe...

Thursday, July 8

France’s Alstom plans to sign a €882 million contract with UZ to supply 130 electric locomotives for hauling freight , the company has reported. Last week, the Rada ratified a France-Ukraine agreement on supplying the locomotives, which are to have 35% local content. France is providing loans to cover 85% of the dea...

Wednesday, July 7

Three years in the making, an agreement signed last week in Beijing for China to finance and build bridges, highways and railways in Ukraine represents a big step up for China’s commitment to Ukraine, Chinese analysts tell the South China Morning Post. “Ukraine can only embrace China more since both the EU and NATO have not shown much interest in Ukraine joining for now,” said Li Lifan, a senior fe...

The Finance Ministry yesterday sold the equivalent of $113 million of hryvnia bonds in an auction of five different tenures. The sale raised 24% more than last week’s auction. Yields were little changed and ranged from 10.99% for 1-year bonds to 12.59% for 5-year bonds.

Yesterday Ukrzaliznytsia started investor calls for the placement of new 5-year Eurobonds to raise $300 million, Interfax-Ukraine has reported. Last month, S&P changed the outlook for Ukrzaliznytsia’s credit rating from negative to positive in connection with a debt rescheduling deal with Sberbank. With the economic downturn caused by the...

Concorde Capital’s Alexander Paraschiy wrote: “The placement is a well-expected event that is essential for Ukrainian Railways to resolve its liquidity issues and secure financing for its on-going CapEx program. We see a high chance for the place...

In a test use of the Prozorro.Sales electronic auction system, UZ lease rates of commercial spaces in rail stations rose by 47% yesterday , says Ivan Yuryk, acting CEO of the state railroad. UZ leased space in Dnipro Main, Zaporizhia-1 and Khmelnitsky. Areas leased will be used for ATM machines, payment terminals, vending machines, and ...

Tuesday, July 6

‘Small’ privatizations – the sale of state assets that litter Ukraine 30 years after the collapse of communism – netted the government $61 million during the first half of this year. This is four times the amount of the same January-June period last year, the State Property Fund writes on Facebook. Increasingly popular, the sales are online, are open to bidders from across the nat...

Monday, July 5

On the stalled Chinese investment in the Motor Sich aircraft engine factory, the Global Times quotes Song Kui, the President of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute, saying yesterday: “If Kiev can recognize the situation and get rid of the country&...

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...