Luxembourg opens an entrance for Ukrainians in accordance with the recommendations of the EU Council, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“Luxembourg is opening for all types of travel of Ukrainians in accordance with the recommendations of the EU Council. One more EU country, with which we are restoring full validity of visa-free travel,” Kuleba said on his Twitter microblog on Tuesday evening.
Kuleba said that before buying tickets, it is necessary to check all the conditions for entering the countries according to the interactive map of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two Ukrainian swimmers, Mykhailo Romanchuk and Serhiy Frolov, reached the final of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, according to the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC).
“Our swimmers are in the finals of Tokyo-2020! The preliminary heats for men at a distance of 800 meters per second are completed. Mykhailo Romanchuk reaches the final with a first time of 7.41.28, which is also an Olympic record and a new record for Ukraine, Serhiy Frolov with seventh one (7.47.67). Well done!” the committee said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Lentimex Ukraine LLC (Kyiv), a subsidiary of Slovak Lentimex spol. s r.o., has completed the purchase of a 113.5 hectare land plot of the Rodovid Bank in Obolon district of Kiev, and plans to invest EUR 500 million in construction of a multifunctional space on its territory.
As Lentimex Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine, on July 23, 2021, the company paid all its obligations under an auction and fully paid UAH 370 million in a letter of credit.
“It is planned to build a multifunctional space on the acquired plot with social, cultural and entertainment infrastructure according to European standards. This space will become a unique combination of recreation and a city,” the company said.
According to it, the total investment in the project will amount to more than EUR 500 million. Lentimex also intends to attract local partners to its team.
As reported, Lentimex Ukraine LLC won the Dutch auction of the Individuals’ Deposit Guarantee Fund for the sale of the Rodovid Bank land plot with a total area of 113.5 hectares, located in Obolon district of Kiev, with an offer of UAH 370 million. The intended purpose of this land plot is construction, as well as the operation and maintenance of residential buildings and social and cultural facilities. This asset was previously listed for sale. The starting price of the lot decreased from UAH 3.7 billion to UAH 370 million.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, Lentimex Ukraine was created on June 18, 2021 with a charter capital of UAH 20,000. The main activity is the purchase/sale of own real estate.
Slovak company Lentimex spol. s r.o. was established in 1997. It is engaged in the sale of conveyor belts, rubber products and raw materials for the metallurgical, energy and chemical industries, as well as turnkey industrial construction.
Kaspi Pay, a 100% subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Kaspi.kz JSC, has signed a sale and purchase agreement for 100% of Portmone Group, an independent provider of payment and money transfer services in Ukraine, which is majority owned by Europe Virgin Fund (EVF).
“The acquisition of Portmone puts our Payments Platform in a strong position to end into Ukraine,” according to Kaspi’s semi-annual report on the London Stock Exchange.
According to the report, subject to anti-monopoly approval in Ukraine and Kazakhstan and approval by the National Bank of Ukraine, this transaction is expected to complete in the final quarter of 2021. The report said that upon successful closing the acquisition of Portmone also gives Kaspi.kz a payments license and Visa and Mastercard accreditation in Ukraine. In the medium-term, Ukraine can also become an important source of IT talent and a development hub for Kaspi.kz.
It is noted that Ukraine is characterized by high cash penetration (44% cash withdrawals), low e-commerce penetration at 8% of retail, low unsecured consumer lending at less than 4.5% of GDP and over 70% smartphone penetration.
Oleh Gorokhovskyi, the co-founder of virtual monobank serving over 3 million clients, predicted on Facebook that the new owner of Portmone would increase competition in the market.
“Kaspi is a global fintech star. The company’s valuation has doubled since the recent IPO and is already $13 billion. I love strong competitors. They are very motivating and mobilize the team,” Gorokhovskyi said.
At the same time, he doubted Kaspi’s ability to gain leadership in the Ukrainian market.
“In payments, they will have to compete with completely free payments from mono. In acquiring, in which they are strong in Kazakhstan, they will have to learn all the charms of government interference with the regulation of this market and compete not only with us and Privat, but also with Apple and Google Pay. Even in Kazakhstan, they got a marketplace – in Ukraine, this will also be difficult,” the co-founder of monobank said.
EVF, a regional private equity fund organized by Dragon Capital in 2010, acquired a majority stake in Portmone. The fund’s participants were Dragon Capital, EBRD, the Swiss sovereign wealth fund Obviam, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank and other investors.
Kaspi.kz operates on three platforms – marketplace, fintech platform and payment system. The company’s shareholders are Baring Vostok funds – 28.82%, Vyacheslav Kim – 23.25%, and Mikhail Lomtadze – 22.44%.
JV Nibulon LLC (Mykoliav) intends to replace technological flows at its operating transshipment terminal for grains and oilseeds in Mykoliav and modernize the aspiration (ventilation) system, which will minimize the impact on the environment, increase the emergency safety of production, improve working conditions, fire safety and industrial sanitation.
Information about this is stipulated in the unified register of environmental impact assessment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The project involves the installation of additional 24 aspiration systems at the terminal, replacement of belt conveyors with chain conveyors, installation of fire-fighting dry pipes and explosion arresters for transport elevators – devices to prevent an explosion in an enclosed space.
At the moment, Nibulon is considering two options for installing the aspiration system: using dust collectors of the sleeve type or cyclone type.
The company said that its transshipment terminal is located on a plot with a total area of 15.86 hectares, which it owns.
TOP 20 COUNTRIES UKRAINE HAS POSTED THE HIGHEST SURPLUS OF TRADE IN GOODS JAN- APRIL 2021 (THSD USD)
