The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has included 66.65% of the authorized capital of Lybid Investment Union LLC, which owns the Ocean Plaza shopping mall in Kyiv, in the list of large-scale privatization targets.
According to Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, the decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
In October 2023, the State Property Fund of Ukraine appealed to the government with an initiative to include the state-owned stake (66.65%) in the Ocean Plaza shopping mall in the list of large-scale privatization objects. The Fund recommended setting the starting price for the sale of the state-owned stake in the mall at the level of its book value for the last reporting (annual) period.
At the end of 2022, the value of the state share amounted to UAH 1.32 billion (the carrying value of the entire asset was UAH 1.98 billion). At the same time, the Fund expects the sale of the lot to be more expensive than the book value.
As reported, on June 9, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers approved an order to transfer to the SPF a 66.65% share of the authorized capital of Lybid Investment Union LLC, which owns the mall, in the amount of 66.65%.
Previously, these corporate rights belonged to Russian businessmen Arkady and Igor Rotenberg, who are subject to sanctions, but in March 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court ruled to recover them in favor of the state.
Ocean Plaza was opened in Kyiv in December 2012 at 176 Antonovycha Street. Its total area is 165 thousand square meters. Investments in the facility amounted to approximately $300 million. UDP and K.A.N. Development LLC were partners in the development of the project.
The mall was sold to Arkady Rotenberg’s TPS Real Estate in 2012. Later, in 2019, Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky indirectly acquired a 33.5% stake in Ocean Plaza through UPD Holdings Limited. In 2021, he sold his stake to entrepreneur Andriy Ivanov. The deal was finalized in the summer of 2023.
