Andriy Verevsky, the principal owner and head of the Kernel agricultural holding, received 230,270,035 shares of Ferrexpo—a mining company with its main assets in Ukraine—following an additional share issuance, giving him 21.99% of the voting rights, according to the company’s statement to the stock exchange.
According to Ferrexpo’s semi-annual report, the voting stake of the largest shareholder—Fevamotinico S.a.r.l., which is wholly owned by The Minco Trust—whose beneficiaries are Konstantin Zhevago and two other members of his family—has decreased to 45.3% of the issued voting share capital (excluding treasury shares) from 49.3% at the beginning of the year.
In addition, BlackRock, Inc. reported that, together with its affiliates, it once again controls less than 5% of the voting rights, as was the case prior to September 14 of this year, when it announced that it had acquired 5% of the voting rights in Ferrexpo, of which 1.34% were held directly through shares and another 3.66% through financial instruments.
As previously reported, Ferrexpo’s shareholders’ meeting on September 21 approved an additional share issuance totaling approximately $100 million, of which about $50 million was provided by Verevsky and another approximately $40 million by Fevamotinico.
The shares were placed at a price of 16.5 pence per share, which is 42.3% lower than the share price on the London Stock Exchange on April 30 of this year, while on the day of the meeting, trading closed at 28.28 pence, and the shares are currently trading at 34.30 pence per share.
Ferrexpo noted that the new shares represented approximately 73.1% of the company’s existing shares prior to the capital raise. It was expected that upon completion of the capital raise, the owner of “Kernel” would hold 21.44% of the increased share capital.
The company clarified that after admission to trading, its total issued share capital will consist of 1 billion 62 million 816.44 thousand common shares, each of which carries one vote; however, 15 million 830,814 thousand shares are currently treasury shares and therefore do not carry voting rights. Taking this information into account,
Verevsky’s stake in the authorized capital, including treasury shares, amounts to approximately 21.67%.
Ferrexpo announced that it had reached an agreement on a capital increase on September 3–4 of this year. As of August 28, the company’s cash position had decreased to approximately $26.4 million, and after deducting lease obligations, it stood at approximately $17.8 million, compared to $21 million in the middle of this year and $47 million at the beginning of the year—which was sufficient to keep the company operating only until approximately the end of October.
The Board of Directors believes that the $100 million raised will be sufficient to meet the group’s immediate and short-term operational needs, allowing it to operate at a reduced level for the next 18 months. The funds raised will be used primarily to resume temporarily suspended mining and processing operations in Ukraine, to cover deferred expenses across all operations—including repairs and maintenance—and to maintain financial flexibility given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding operations in Ukraine.
To carry out the recapitalization, the board of directors held negotiations with Fevamotinico, during which the latter objected to an excessive dilution of its shares—below the 45.2% threshold of the authorized capital—even though this would have reduced the risks to Ferrexpo stemming from its ties to Zhevago, who is subject to Ukrainian sanctions. The largest shareholder also stipulated that, as a result of the recapitalization, no one other than Verevsky would hold a stake exceeding 15%.
As for Verevsky, his requirement as the anchor investor was that Ferrexpo refrain from any alternative fundraising through shares or other transactions.
The offering was conducted through an accelerated book-building process, with Panmure Liberum Limited and Peel Hunt LLP serving as joint global coordinators and bookrunners.
Ferrexpo owns a 100% stake in Yeristovsky GOK LLC, a 99.9% stake in Bilanivsky GOK LLC, and 100% of the shares in Poltava GOK PJSC.
Ferrexpo ended the first half of 2026 with a net loss of $14.9 million, which is 13.2 times less than the figure for the first half of 2025. The company’s revenue fell 2.3 times to $196 million.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) suspended trading in Ferrexpo shares in early May due to the company’s inability to publish its annual financial statements on time, but resumed trading on September 7.
