The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has permitted law firms Asters and EPAP Ukraine (both based in Kyiv) to merge. The committee said that after the merger of operations and assets of the two law firms the merged group Asters and some entities of the EPAP Ukraine group would have joint control over Magisters law firm.
Magisters law firm was founded in Kyiv in 1997 as Magister&Parnters and later was renamed Magisters and expanded its operations to the CIS. In summer 2011, the firm merged with Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners (EPAP).
As reported, in August 2018, the law firms Asters and EPAP Ukraine announced their intention to merge. It was planned that the merger will be completed on October 1, 2018.
The combined firm with its offices in Kyiv and Washington will be the largest in Ukraine with 26 partners and more than 140 lawyers. Over 250 employees will work in the firm.
The Asters and EPAP Ukraine law firms have been working in Ukraine for more than 20 years. They are the leaders of the legal market, have the highest recommendations of international and national ratings.
The Nova Poshta Group predicts that in 2018, the group would increase the number of deliveries to 170 million, which is 16.6% more than last year, Nova Poshta Director Oleksandr Bulba has said.
“The [upward] trend continues in 2018: we expect a 15-20% increase in the eight months ending August this year. We delivered 108 million parcels (for comparison, in the eight months of 2017, 90 million.) Our plan for this year is about 170 million parcels,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
The press service of the group told Interfax-Ukraine that this year Nova Poshta intends to open up to 600 new points of presence of different formats.
As reported, Nova Poshta in January-June 2018 delivered 78 million items, which is 21% more than in the same period in 2017.
Nova Poshta was founded in 2001. Its network has more than 2,350 depots and a fleet of more than 3,600 trucks. In 2017, more than 145 million items were delivered.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deputy and Opposition Party Co-chairman Borys Kolesnykov has said Ukraine should export more highly processed products, remove the energy and food blockade of Donbas and create a comfortable business climate for investors. “Ukraine simply needs to export more and import less, and within three years we must export highly processed products. We must act solely in our own economic interests,” he said on his Facebook page on Thursday. Kolesnykov said government should “promptly remove the energy and food blockade of Donbas and create a real investment climate in the country for both domestic investors and foreign investors.” “Ukraine simply has to become an Eastern European Singapore,” he said.
Occupancy of Kyiv’s hotels in the highest peak of the tourist season (May-August) grew by 1.6 percentage points (p.p.) in the upscale segment, to 47% and by 5 p.p. in the midscale segment, to 56%, the press service of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Ukraine has reported. According to JLL, Average Daily Room Rate (ADR) in the upscale hotel segment in Kyiv in May-August 2018 grew to $175, which is 10% more than in May-August 2017, while Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) grew by $13, to $85.
“May was the month when hotels were occupied the most, when the UEFA Champions League final took place. This event… allowed hotels of the upscale segment to reach occupancy of 59% with the increase of ADR by almost 40%, to $230,” Head of the Hotels & Hospitality Department at JLL Tetiana Veller said.
According to the JLL report, in the midscale segment of the Kyiv’s hotels there was a decrease in ADR by an average of 10%, to $80. At the same time, due to the increase in the occupancy to 56%, RevPAR in this segment increased to $45.
According to the consulting company, Kyiv hotels in the eight months ending August 2018 showed an increase in occupancy by 1 p.p. in the upscale segment and by 2 p.p. in the midscale segment, the growth of ADR – by $15 in the upscale and $2 in the midscale.
