Businessman Vyacheslav Mishalov, who has significant assets in several sectors, mainly concentrated in the Dnipro region, is refraining from investing in Ukrainian real estate until values in this market are reassessed, he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“I am not a fan of construction or the construction business because real estate prices in Ukraine are not high enough to make it a good business. Accordingly, you either have to build poorly or sell at high prices. I don’t like this format,” he said.
Mishalov added that he does not see much success among the few developers who are trying to build high-quality properties and sell them at high prices.
“There are no new construction projects, and I don’t think there will be any in the near future. While there is still some movement in Kyiv, in Dnipro I see several developers just finishing construction and fulfilling their obligations. With that level of cost, it is not interesting to me as an investor,” the businessman said.
According to his assessment, there was a surge in western Ukraine, but it was very short-lived: those who managed to get out of there with their money were lucky, while the rest will remain there with significant losses.
“I live in Dnipro, which has been hit hard throughout the war, but I have no intention of buying real estate in western Ukraine. For many reasons. I believe that it is overvalued today. And as soon as there is some prospect of stability, it will turn to rubble. So it’s not an asset, it’s some kind of psychopathy,” Mishalov believes.
According to him, it probably makes sense to invest money in some real estate in western Ukraine if you plan to move there. “But there is no quality real estate there, and there are no plans to build any, because everyone was chasing hype and speed — to get money from potential clients as quickly as possible. It’s not quality construction,” he added.
The investor noted that when he was choosing where to buy an apartment in Dnipro and Kyiv, there were literally only a few buildings that were well-designed and built.
“There needs to be a major revaluation of values in the real estate sector. Construction must begin in accordance with existing building codes,” Mishalov emphasized.
At the same time, he said that he has a project to restore the facade of a historic building in the center of Kyiv, on which he wants to spend “tens of millions of hryvnias.” According to the businessman, he was “in a good mood” after talking with the first deputy head of the State Architectural and Construction Inspection, Iryna Gioane, who on her own initiative welcomed the company’s initiative.
“We have been given permission to restore the building. We will try to finish everything beautifully by late autumn—restoring it as it was designed 100 years ago,” Mishalov said.
He added that the company had been trying to obtain this permit for a year and a half, even though there is little demand for restorers in the country, with only two teams remaining: one in Kyiv and one in Odesa.
He also clarified that his businesses operate separately from those of his father, Dmitry Mishalov, also a well-known Dnipro businessman and developer (Master Group).
As the businessman said in an interview, all his assets are already quite well structured and managed through the closed non-diversified venture corporate investment fund Fortress.
Mishalov’s investments include the financial company Ye Groshi, the provider Fregat, the Lotus network of four gas stations in Dnipro and Novomoskovsk, the petroleum products trader Lotus Oil Trading, an IT division, and the news portal Informator.
The fund, in turn, is managed by the asset management company MPSS LLC from Dnipro, owned by Serhiy Shishkin (50%), Ihor Sukhodolsky (41%), and Olga Mukhina (9%).
“I don’t have my own asset management company; I manage everything through the fund as much as possible. In my opinion, today it is one of the best tools for ownership and management, including financial flows,” Mishalov emphasized.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/
