ICU, the leading Ukrainian asset manager and government bond broker, today announced the launch of ICU Global Equity Index, a closed qualified mutual investment fund with an issue size of UAH 130 million. “Through the ICU Global Equity Index Fund, local private and institutional investors can invest in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) of various sectors of the economy, in particular, NASDAQ and S&P 500, as well as other indices including gold, health, consumer and Asian companies,” ICU said in a report on Thursday.
In early March the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine confirmed the fund complied with the asset size requirements.
“We have been seeing a lot of demand from investors to invest in foreign instruments, so we decided to expand our offering by adding an index fund in foreign currency to meet client demand,” Head of Asset Management at ICU Group Hryhoriy Ovcharenko said.
He said that the fund’s retrospective results for the last 15 years (including crisis periods) more than doubled the benchmark – the yield of the S&P 500, proofing the strategy’s effectiveness.
ICU is an independent asset management and investment advisory firm specializing in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 2006 by senior investment professionals from ING, ICU is Ukraine’s leading asset manager with over $500 million in assets under management.
Makar Paseniuk and Kostiantyn Stetsenko are founding partners of ICU.
Vienna Insurance Group, together with three other investors, created the investment company Venpace GmbH & Co. KG formed in Cologne, which aims to find, financially support and make use of young international technology companies, according to a group’s press release.
According to it, in addition to Vienna Insurance Group, which holds a 25% stake in the new company, Ideal Insurance Group, Provinzial Rheinland Versicherung AG and Prisma Life AG also became the investors and founders of Venpace.
“We want to take advantage of the growing insurtech scene and its innovative ideas to further expand our range of digital products and services. We are intentionally investing in the early stage of future-oriented start-ups, in order to generate medium-term returns while spreading the risk over multiple investors,” CEO Elisabeth Stadler said.
Venpace might also be used for corporate venturing aimed at realising ideas with start-ups founded specifically for this purpose. The initial focus will be on life insurance and digital points of contact with customers.
The new investment company will build up and manage equity investments in technology companies over a period of ten years. The minimum investment of the four shareholders is EUR 1 million over the next five years. In addition, investors can invest directly in companies of interest to them through Venpace and thus efficiently leverage the start-up expertise and capacities of the investment company.
The list of specialized organizations that will procure medicines and medical products in 2021 was approved by the government at the Wednesday meeting.
According to the document, the Crown Agents British purchasing agency will procure: tests, consumables for the diagnosis of tuberculosis; immunobiological medicines for immunoprophylaxis of the population and products to ensure control of immunobiological preparations and medical devices; medicines for children with dwarfism of various origins; medical products for citizens suffering from epidermolysis bullosa; medicines for patients in the pre- and postoperative period of transplantation; consumables for determining the level of glucose in the blood, glycated hemoglobin; medicines for children with mental and behavioral disorders from the autism spectrum, with schizophrenia, affective disorders, hyperkinetic disorders and epilepsy; endoprostheses and implantation kits.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will procure: medicines for citizens with viral hepatitis B and C; test systems for diagnosing HIV infection, accompanying antiretroviral therapy and monitoring the course of HIV infection in patients, determining the resistance of the virus, conducting reference studies; medicines and medical products to ensure the development of donation of blood and its components.
Delicia confectionery factory (Bucha, Kyiv region) plans to re-equip the existing production of flour products (rusks and dry biscuits, flour pastries, waffles, etc.), which will increase production capacity to 28,000 tonnes annually, according to the Unified National Environmental Impact Assessment Registry of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The company plans to install new production lines in the existing production – one Gourmetback tunnel gas furnace and six similar furnaces in a new production and storage facility.
The confectionery is also considering an alternative project – the reconstruction of the existing production and the construction of a new workshop for the production of pastries with a total capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year.
According to the registry, the main positive social and economic parameters of this production are an increase in tax revenues to the budget, an increase in jobs by a third to 900, and the development of the region’s infrastructure.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of the factory is Polish citizen Robert Sekera.
There are no company’s financial statements for 2020, but in 2019 its revenue increased by 4.3% compared to 2018, to UAH 510.63 million, net profit by 1.7 times, to UAH 22.83 million, retained earnings by 28%, to UAH 109.34 million, and current liabilities decreased by 8.7%, to UAH 46.28 million.
According to the data on the confectionery factory’s website, it produces more 60 kinds of sugar, butter, aerated butter biscuits, wafers and cooked gingerbreads. The products are presented in branded stores and major retail chains in Ukraine.
Delicia exports its products to more than 20 countries of the world.
Volume of construction products produced by type in 2020 (mln uah)
