Cyprus-based Wiltan Enterprises Limited, controlled by VR Global Partners and affiliated with VR Capital Group, has asked the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) to approve the possible purchase from the partners of ICU Investment Group, Makar Paseniuk and Kostiantyn Stetsenko, of 50% of Cypriot-based Matlomenius Holdings Ltd, which owns private enterprise PodilskEnergo (Kyiv), which is building a solar power plant with a capacity of 60 MW.
According to the AMC, the agency plans to consider granting permission to Wiltan Enterprises to purchase Matlomenius Holdings shares, which will provide the buyer with 50% of the voting shares on the company’s board, this week.
ICU Investment Group did not comment on this information.
According to data from Ukrenergo, the connection of this solar plant, formerly known as Kamyanets-Podilska solar power plant, is scheduled for this year, and its cost is estimated at UAH 3.358 billion.
According to the state register, PodilskEnergo was established in late 2012.
The project of Kamyanets-Podilska solar power plant was previously developed by Torense Group, announcing investments of EUR72 million. However, according to Opendatabot, then Roman Kohut, connected with a number of other solar plant projects, became its owner, and Matlomenius Holdings replaced him at the beginning of February this year.
PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia received UAH 271 million of net profit in January-March 2018, which is 20 times more than in the first quarter of 2017, acting chairman of the company Yevhen Kravtsov has said, when presenting the report of the company’s work for the first quarter of 2018 at a government meeting in Kyiv.
“For the first quarter of 2018, all the main financial and economic indicators of Ukrzaliznytsia were fulfilled and overfulfilled in accordance with the financial plan. In terms of net profit, in the first quarter we received UAH 271 million of net profit, which is 20 times more than in the first quarter of 2017 and 2.5 times more than for the entire 2017. Revenues grew by almost 20%, by UAH 2.5 billion. Capital investments were 20% overfulfilled. Capital investments in the first quarter were three times more than in the first quarter of 2017,” he said.
According to Kravtsov, in the first quarter Ukrzaliznytsia paid UAH 1 billion more taxes than for the same period of 2017.
He also said that 62% of capital investments were used for rolling stock renewal, another 13% for the program of priority capital projects in infrastructure. In January-March 2018 more than 3,000 wagons were repaired, including 1,230 purchased and newly built and 1,892 overhauled cars.
In general, according to Kravtsov, over the first quarter more than 12% of the Ukrzaliznytsia car fleet was updated. Also, the number of freight locomotives was increased by 25 units, while 29 passenger carriages underwent capital modernization.
Ukraine seeks to take part in several projects in Egypt, in particular projects on modernization of a steel works and reconstruction of a coke-oven battery for a company, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said. “Ukraine is ready to undertake several projects in Egypt. The first one is modernization of Helwan steel works worth some $200 million and reconstruction of a coke-oven battery for El Nasr for Coke & Chemicals worth some $80 million,” Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page after a meeting with the minster for state-owned companies of Egypt who visited Ukraine with the purpose of attracting Ukrainian specialists to construction and modernization of Egyptian state-owned enterprises.
Kubiv also said that last year goods flow between Ukraine and Egypt reached almost $2 billion, and trade with services grew by 62% in 2017 compared with 2016.
BATTERY, COKE-OVEN, EGYPT, MODERNIZATION, PROJECTS, RECONSTRUCTION, STEEL WORKS
Subscribers of the largest Ukrainian mobile communications operator Kyivstar speak 589 minutes on average on cell phones, and average voice calls in the European Union (EU) amount to 200 minutes a month, President of Kyivstar Peter Chernyshov wrote on his Facebook page. He said that Ukrainians on average use mobile phone more and pay less.
“According to GSMА Intelligence, in 2017, subscribers in the EU used 200 minutes a month on average. The average revenue per user (ARPU) was UAH 267 ($13.72). Each subscriber of the Kyivstar network used 589 minutes a month on average with ARPU of UAH 49 ($1.8),” Chernyshov said.
He also said that a Frenchman or a Portuguese used near 3 gigabytes of data traffic a month in 2017, and a Ukrainian used 1 gigabyte. The president of Kyivstar believes that after the full launch of 4G communication in Ukraine the situation would change and Ukrainians would use mobile Internet more actively.
The occupancy of the most popular hotels in Kyiv for the period of the UEFA Champions League final reaches 100%, while prices exceed the usual tariffs by 5-10 times, experts polled by Interfax-Ukraine believe. “Almost all the hotels (more than 90%) have been booked for the period of the UEFA Champions League that will take place in Kyiv on May 26. Most of them have a minimum period of booking for the duration of the match, usually three or five days. The price of rooms depends on the location of the hotel. Prices for rooms in hotels in the center of the city are 5-10 times higher than the standard rate,” Natalia Chistiakova, the director of the valuation and consulting department at Colliers International (Ukraine), said.
According to her, the most popular objects are three-, four- and five-star hotels in the central part of the city. Tariffs for rooms decrease with distance from the Olympiysky sports complex.
In particular, according to Park Inn by Radisson Kyiv Troyitska hotel, located near the sports complex, all the rooms in the object have already been booked. At the same time, the hotel offers guests the option of including in the waiting list and after May 4 receive an answer whether there are any vacant rooms. “Given the mistakes of the previous years when carrying out the events of this level, hoteliers, more often, book rooms on a prepayment of not less than 70%,” the expert said.
The participation of international companies in the management of Ukraine’s gas transportation system (GTS) can improve its competitiveness, German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Reichel has stated. “Specifically, on the gas transmission system, we do believe that the participation and investment of foreign companies could play a big, positive role in order to make the gas transmission system more competitive. We are entering a phase where it is likely that there will be more competition for the Ukrainian gas transmission system, and so it needs initiatives to make it more viable and cost effective. International investment and participation in the management can play a major role. Also the European Commission is making proposals in this direction,” he said in a joint interview with French Ambassador Isabelle Dumont to Interfax-Ukraine.
Dumont, in turn, noted that the compulsory conditions for significant investments on the part of European companies in Ukraine’s GTS are clear and transparent working conditions and a favorable business climate.
“In principle, everything is possible. What will make them go or not go will be confidence in Ukrainian institutions, confidence in the business climate, confidence in any privatization offered, transparency and the understanding of what is on the table,” she said.
