The Black Sea Trade and Development (BSTDB) and SOCAR AQS, a major drilling and well services company headquartered in Azerbaijan, have reached an agreement to partner for advancing regional cooperation in the energy sector, according to a joint press release of the bank and the company.
“BSTDB is providing a EUR 20 million Trade Finance Facility to finance imports of industrial equipment and materials from BSTDB member countries,” they said.
The loan agreement was signed at the BSTDB Headquarters in Thessaloniki.
According to the press release, the transaction will have a strong regional and developmental impact through acquisition of casings, tubular, rig, well service equipment, drill bits, power generators, and crane equipment mainly from Russia, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine.
“The partnership with SOCAR AQS will generate significant economic benefits and technological advancement opportunities for many producers and suppliers in the region. We hope to develop further our partnership in the coming years,” Dmitry Pankin, BSTDB President, said, signing the loan agreement.
“The partnership with BSDTB will enable SOCAR AQS to expand our business and further integrate to supply-chain ecosystem in the region,” Ramin Isayev, General Director of SOCAR AQS, said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed diplomat Andriy Kuzmenko as Ukrainian Ambassador to Qatar. Respective decree No.914/2019 as of December 18 was published on a president’s website on December 19.
Previously Kuzmenko was Ukraine’s temporary charge d’affaires in the UK, an employee of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) as a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, an ambassador at large.
Ukrainian entrepreneurs Vasyl Khmelnytsky and Andriy Ivanov have reached an agreement on splitting management of joint investment projects, in particular, Ivanov’s Quarter Partners will manage investments in the projects of UDP development company and the Kyiv airport, while Khmelnytsky via UFuture remains the majority shareholder of these companies with the power of veto.According to a joint press release issued on Thursday, UFuture holding company controls interests in all joint businesses and social projects of Khmelnytsky and Quarter Partners investment fund – in the projects of Ivanov. “We are in the final stage of restructuring and managing our investments. Today, I focus on global innovation and impact projects that are changing the country,” Khmelnytsky said.
He said that they are UNIT.City in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Biopharma, Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, Kyiv International Economic Forum, and the others.
“I have founded Quarter Partners as a new-model investment fund that combines both portfolio and venture capital projects. In addition to managing existing projects, our team is already looking for and developing promising new businesses, including startups,” Ivanov said.
He said that the focus is on IT-projects that can scale and complement each other, creating new value for their clients and society. There are many strong teams working here to develop high-quality products for consumers around the world, he said.
According to the press release, the management structure of Kyiv Airport and its development program have not changed, but UDP does intend to significantly enhance its profile activities. Conversely, UDP has changed its management structure and will announce several new projects in the near future.
Serhiy Bogoslavskyi, who has been working in the Ukrainian real estate market for over 15 years, has been appointed the President of UDP. Vitaliy Melnyk, CEO of UDP, will continue managing the development of innovative parks in Ukraine as UDP Vice President.
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion.
UFuture is a majority shareholder in UDP development company (specializing in large infrastructure projects), Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (the second international airport in Ukraine by passenger traffic), national operator of outdoor advertising RTM-Ukraine, and a group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions ITernal. UFuture is a strategic investor in the pharmaceutical company Biopharma and UDP Renewables, renewable energy investment and development company. UFuture is also developing new business projects including UNIT.City innovation parks in Kyiv and Kharkiv, LvivTech.City in Lviv; Bila Tserkva industrial park and a manufacturer of modern electrotechnical systems, Plank Electrotechnic.
UFuture supports social projects in the fields of education and economics, including the Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), Lean Institute Ukraine, UNIT School of Business, UNIT Factory innovative IT-schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv, INDAX accelerator, Novopecherska School, the all-Ukrainian online platform iLearn, K.Fund Books and #bestread publishing projects.
Quarter Partners, a private fund that invests in businesses with a high potential for growth and then resells these businesses to strategic investors. It was founded as a diversified investment group in 1992. The fund has made large deals on attracting share capital as well as selling businesses to strategic investors. Today, Quarter Partners focuses on finding and developing IT-projects (eCommerce, MedTech, FoodTech, Logistics) as well as the projects in pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, and real estate.
The investment portfolio includes Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport, UDP development company, UDP Renewables, Biopharma pharmaceutical company, operator of outdoor advertising, RTM-Ukraine, as well as several venture projects in Ukraine and abroad. The total investment in these projects is $520 million.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has extended a pilot project for organ transplantation for 2020.
“This will allow agreements to be concluded with all licensed institutions providing medical services,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said on Telegram.
According to the wording of the resolution, published on the Cabinet’s website, all medical institutions that have a license to provide organ transplantation services were included in the list of participants in the pilot project.
In addition, the Cabinet authorized the use of funds to pay for a hematopoietic stem cell transplant from abroad, as well as allowed prepayment of organ transplantation services and the use of the remaining funds of 2019 in 2020.
“We are improving the transparency of procedures for treating Ukrainians abroad, we are laying down financing for such an opportunity for our people, and we are also strengthening the fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine,” he said.
Pivdenna Agrarian-Export Company (PAEK, Mykolaiv) plans to acquire Buhsky Elevator LLC (Poltava from one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings Kernel.
According to an agenda of the meeting of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, the committee could permit Pivdenna Agrarian-Export Company LLC to acquire a stake in the charter capital of Buhsky Elevator, which will grant over 50% of the votes in the management body of the company.
In addition, PAEK asked for a permission to acquire assets in the form of property complex belonged to Agroprosperis Trade LLC (Vinnytsia) via Rozdollia LLC (Mykolaiv region), which would allow the company to primarily process and store grain in Mykolaiv region.
In August 2019, the co-owners of the PAEK group announced their plans to divide business.
At the end of September, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine permitted Rostyslav Danylchenko and Yuriy Kormyshkin to divide assets.
After the division of business Kormyshkin owns a land bank of 50,000 ha and the grain storage facilities with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes.
The visa-free agreement between Ukraine, Northern Macedonia will enter into force on December 22, 2019.
“To northern Macedonia without a visa on an ongoing basis: both short and long-term (immigration) visas have been cancelled!” said State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Zayats on his Twitter page.
The agreement provides for visa-free travel with biometric passports for a short stay (up to 90 days during 180 days), cancellation of long-term visas for stays of more than 90 days for the purpose of employment, study, family reunion and/or immigration.
In addition, according to the agreement, it is possible to apply for other categories of long-term visas free of charge.
