The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published a decree by which it amended the criteria for adaptive lockdown and extended its validity until the end of 2020.
The text of decree No. 956 dated October 13 on amendments to decree No. 641 dated July 22 was released on the government’s official website.
The decree restricts the opening hours of restaurants and other catering establishments from 22:00 to 07:00, and also tightens the restriction on holding mass events (no more than 50 people in the “green” zones, up to 30 people in the “yellow,” up to 20 people in the “orange”). The Cabinet of Ministers also banned spectators from visiting sports events, except for international ones, on which the Health Ministry will make another decisions.
In addition, it is recommended that all business entities organize shift work of employees, if it is technically possible to work in real time via the Internet while maintaining salaries.
It is recommended that institutions of general secondary education establish holidays from October 15 to October 30, 2020, and institutions of vocational and higher education from October 15 to November 15, 2020 switch to distance learning with the recommended departure of students from hostels, except for those who cannot do this.
According to the decree, the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection should strengthen public control over compliance with sanitary legislation and anti-epidemic measures in the work of preschool education institutions, catering, physical education and sports, and trade.
Local authorities are advised to use additional units of public transport in order to avoid crowding in it and monitor compliance with anti-epidemic standards in the implementation of transportation.
Ukraine in the 2019/2020 MY (September-August) reduced the processing of soybeans by 33.4% due to the growth of their exports, against the doubling of processing soybeans in the 2018/2019 MY.
According to a report on the website of the Ukroliyaprom association, more than 1.8 million tonnes of soybeans, which is 70% of their total exports from Ukraine in 2019/2020, were exported in September-December 2019 (export growth during this period against the corresponding period in 2018 exceeded 250%). For the first time, enterprises were forced to import soybeans in Ukraine.
In the 2019/2020 the production of soybeans amounted to 3.7 million tonnes, of which 1.2 million tonnes were refined for oil, 2.63 million tonnes were exported (for $ 864.9 million). Deliveries were made to Turkey (31.6% share in total exports), the EU (26.6%), Egypt (16.6%) and other states, the association said.
“Due to the limited resources of soybeans, the production of soybean oil and meal in 2019/2020 MY decreased by 8.1% and 9.9%, respectively. A particularly significant decrease in the production of these goods was observed in January-August 2020, respectively by 14.6% and 16.8% (compared to the corresponding period in 2019),” Ukroliyaprom said.
According to the association, in the 2019/2020 MY, the export of soybean oil increased by 0.2%, the export of soybean meal decreased by 9.7%.
Ukroliyaprom’s forecast as of October 1, 2020 for the 2020/2021 MY provides for a decrease in the soybean yield by 18.9%, to 3 million tonnes and a reduction in soybean areas by 14.9%, to 1.34 million hectares.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine permitted Cypriot Agimant Limited of the Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko to acquire 100% of Dealzone Holding Ltd. (Rod Town, British Virgin Islands), which owns 98.6578% of shares of one of the largest enterprises for the production of metal products in Ukraine PrJSC Dneprometiz.
“On October 8, the committee granted Agimant Limited permission to acquire sole control over Dealzone Holding Ltd. by concluding a shareholder agreement between Agimant Limited and Sartorius Limited,” the committee said in a statement.
According to the report, Sartorius Limited controlled Dealzone Holding Ltd. thanks to the availability of a veto.
The committee also said that Sartorius Limited, which intends to transfer control, is not bound by control relations with Tigipko’s TAS Group or any business entities-residents of the Russian Federation, which are subject to special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).
According to the public register, Oleh Artemiev from Dnipro is the beneficiary of Sartorius Limited. Through this company, he controls Granit Invest-Rokytne LLC and Rokytne Granit Quarry in Kyiv region with revenue UAH 7 million and UAH 3.1 million in 2019 respectively.
Sartorius Limited for some period this year was also the owner of Rubezh Invest LLC after the company whose beneficiary was Tigipko, but now Yevhenia Kurnosenko from Dnipro is the beneficiary of this limited liability company through Technoprom SKD LLC.
In the public register, Tigipko is listed as the beneficiary of Dneprometiz; earlier, Alexey Mordashov, co-owner of Severstal (Russia), acted as the beneficiary.
According to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission for the second quarter of 2020, Dealzone Holding Ltd. held 98.6578% of the shares of Dneprometiz.
As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee on April 25, 2019 considered the issue of the purchase of the Dneprometiz enterprise by the TAS group from the sanctioned Severstal and admitted violations of the legislation on the protection of economic competition in the transaction, imposing a fine of UAH 55 million on the TAS group.
The Kyiv business court overturned the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee to impose the fine and refuse to grant this acquisition.
Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU) will continue the program of equipment renewal by purchasing 272 units of motor vehicles and engineering vehicles during the year.
According to the company, it plans to acquire 122 Reno Duster, 61 Reno Dokker vehicles, 20 passenger buses, two shift vehicles for difficult terrain, four auto labs for electrical measurements, 25 wheeled excavators, five wheeled chain excavators, 13 tracked excavators, seven truck cranes, 18 bulldozers, two drilling rigs and one pipe carrier.
Earlier, it purchased 126 Mitsubishi L200 pickup trucks and eight Toyota Camry through the ProZorro site.
Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC ensures uninterrupted operation of the Ukrainian GTS, which is integrated into the European gas transportation system.
State Enterprise Ukrspyrt has received another license for production of ethyl alcohol non-denatured for five years, until January 10, 2025, from the State Tax Service
“Our state-owned enterprise received, probably, the last license in its history for production of alcohol. It is issued for five years. After the successful completion of privatization, such licenses in Ukraine will be received by private distilleries. In the meantime, we are competing in the market with other state-owned factories, which, after demonopolization on July 1, are also fighting for buyers in the market,” acting director of Ukrspyrt Serhiy Bleskun said.
The issued license for production of ethyl alcohol will be valid until January 10, 2025. Over the next five years, Ukrspyrt can produce all types of non-denatured ethyl alcohol: rectified (food) raw ethyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol.
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy has offered to buy back all its eurobonds for up to $ 335 million maturing in 2022 by issuing new eurobonds, and in the absence of sufficient supply from their holders – also eurobonds maturing in 2024, keeping the total ransom amount of $ 335 million.
“Naftogaz made offers and a corresponding issue of new bonds to extend the maturity of its debt. Naftogaz expects to finance the offers at the expense of net proceeds from the issue of new bonds,” Kondor Finance Plc, through which the eurobonds were issued, said on the Irish Stock Exchange.
Naftogaz recalls that its 2022 eurobonds with a par value of $ 335 million with a coupon of 7.375% and 2024 eurobonds with a par value of EUR600 million with a coupon of 7.125% are in circulation.
According to the promulgated terms, 2022 eurobonds are redeemed at a price of 102.875% of the par value, 2024 eurobonds at 98.25% of the par value.
The early deadline for applications is October 27 inclusive. The early expected settlement date is October 29, the final one is November 13.
The dealer-manager of the offer is Citigroup Global Markets Limited.
