Ukrainian businessman and owner of DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky is holding talks with U.S. and Chinese investors in Davos on the possibility of locating new production sites on the territory of Kharkiv Tractor Plant and discussing prospects of co-financing Sukha Balka mining with banks.
“Earlier 45,000 people worked at the Kharkiv Tractor Plant. The plant produced 50,000 tractors, and now it employs 3,000 and produces 1,000 tractors.” There are free capacities for other industries. I want to attract partners,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in Davos on Friday, where the World Economic Forum is taking place these days.
Yaroslavsky recalled that he bought Kharkiv Tractor Plant in April 2016 “almost in ruined condition.”
“The plant has idle for a year, it has lost almost all markets. I want to breathe new life into it,” the owner of DCH said.
According to him, in fact, it is about the intention to create an industrial park on the basis of the territory of Kharkiv Tractor Works, which is 150 hectares, as well as to increase the number of employees working at the plant by times.
Speaking about the development of Sukha Balka, which he bought in May of 2017 from Evraz, the businessman noted the prospects of this enterprise and the intention to attract co-financing for the implementation of new projects at it. According to him, he is discussing this opportunity with both commercial banks and international financial institutions, in particular he met with representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“With me, banks are ready to go into these projects,” the owner of DCH said.
Yaroslavsky said that this year, on his trip to Davos he focused on these “point meetings” that, in his personal opinion, would be more useful than discussing the general economic outlook for Ukraine and its investment climate.
He said that Ukraine remains the main focus of his investment.
“I said that I would invest in Ukraine and buy Ukrainian enterprises, and every year I confirm this with real deals: Kharkiv Tractor Plant, Sukha Balka, INGO insurance company [bought in July 2017]. These are big projecta and they require careful attention. There are plans for purchases in 2018,” he said, while at the same time he refused to specify them.
Starbucks, the American coffee shop network, is studying the issue of entering the Ukrainian market, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said, speaking at the Ukraine House Davos.
At the same time, he assured that he would do everything possible for the American network of coffee houses to enter Ukraine.
Ukraine’s first-ever Ukraine House in Davos, Switzerland, is held during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in January 2018. The Ukraine House will work within a week under the slogan “Ukraine: Creativity, Innovation, Opportunity” and is intended to become a dynamic discussion hub. Ukraine House will demonstrate Ukraine’s investment potential and business opportunities to global business leaders, politician and civil society representatives. Ukraine House is open from January 22 to January 26, 2018.
The project is organized by the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) in partnership with Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) and Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
Starbucks Corporation is an American company selling coffee and the eponymous coffee shop network. As of December 2016, Starbucks had more than 24,000 trade outlets throughout the world.
Canada’s Refraction Asset Management has invested about EUR 11 million in the construction of a solar power plant in the town of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Valentyn Reznichenko has said.
“It is now the most powerful solar power plant in the region built by an investor. It took almost 11 million euros to build it. Over 32,000 panels were placed on 15 hectares of land. The plant’s capacity is up to 80 megawatts of electricity per day,” he said, noting that the power generated by the plant can be enough for almost 12,000 apartments within a month.
“There are already two solar power plants in the region – in Pidhorodne and Nikopol. Not a kopeck of budget funds was spent on their construction, all at the expense of the investor,” Reznichenko said.
According to a representative of Refraction Asset Management, Ivan Bachynsky, Nikopol was chosen as the site for the construction of a power plant, since it is one of the sunniest localities in the region.
“This is the first capital investment by our company in Dnipropetrovsk region. There is an understanding with the regional leadership on the further development of eco-energy,” Bachynsky said.
National energy company Ukrenergo will initiate the transfer to Regulatory Asset Base (RAB) from 2019, the state-owned enterprise has said in a press release.
The press release recalled that the company is to appraise its assets and implement the investment program for the year preceding the switch to RAB by at least 95% for transfer to RAB tariffs.
Ukrenergo will focus on the implementation of the above-mentioned conditions and will initiate its switch to RAB in 2019 with the regulator.
“The introduction of RAB will allow Ukrenergo to operate more flexibly and play by the same rules with our European partners. One more desirable step for us from the regulator should be the transition to the approval of investment programs not for the coming year, but at least for the three or five years. This planning horizon will make the company more understandable for creditors, as the implementation of most projects is designed for several years” Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
RAB regulation applies almost in each European country. It allows attracting investment into power lines and increasing the quality of servicing. Ukrenergo operates trunk and interstate power grids, as well as performs the centralized dispatching of the united energy system in the country. The company is a state-owned enterprise. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.
Nibulon plans to build a new transshipment terminal in Ternivka (Zaporizhia region), according to the website of Zaporizhia Regional State Administration.
According to the report, head of the administration Kostiantyn Bryl discussed with the company representatives the procedure of land allocation, energy supply, the need for dredging, other problems.
“Before building anything, you need to do a lot of work with documents, coordinate and resolve problematic issues. Well-coordinated work on the creation and processing of documentation that will not violate the law are now required from a large number of government instances,” he said.
Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. It is one of the largest operators in the grain market of the country. It has elevators with a total capacity of about 2 million tonnes, as well as its own transshipment terminal with a capacity of 5 million tonnes in Mykolaiv.
Public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia is the leader in the list of largest taxpayers in 2017, paying UAH 50.4 billion of taxes in 2017 compared with UAH 38.1 billion in 2016, the Office of Large Taxpayers of the State Fiscal Service has reported.
The top three largest taxpayers in 2017 also includes private joint-stock company Tobacco Company B.A.T.-Pryluky (UAH 13.1 million), and Philip Morris Ukraine (UAH 13.5 million).
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy cut tax payments by UAH 4.6 billion compared with 2016, to UAH 11.5 billion.
Ukrnafta with UAH 10.4 billion paid compared with UAH 8.2 billion in 2016 is also in the top five of largest taxpayers.
The top ten includes JT International Ukraine (UAH 9.5 million), Ukrtatnafta (UAH 8.7 billion) and National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom (UAH 8.7 billion), as well as Ukrtransgaz (UAH 7.8 billion) and private joint-stock company Imperial Tobacco Production Ukraine (Kyiv, UAH 7.5 billion).
The office said that the top 100 largest taxpayers out of 2,506 serviced by the office in 2017 paid UAH 258.3 billion to the budget, which is over 70% of all payments serviced by the office.
In general, taxpayers serviced by the office increased payments to the consolidated budget by UAH 95 billion, sending UAH 355.1 billion.
