The Board of Directors of the World Bank has approved the provision of EUR 40 million to public joint-stock company Ukrplastic (Kyiv) by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
According to the IFC’s website, the decision was made on December 15, 2017.
Currently the IFC does not have other projects pending approval of the Board.
According to the published materials, the IFC plans to provide EUR 20 million for its own account and up to EUR 20 million of a syndicated or mobilized financing to Ukrplastic to expand and modernize the group’s operating capacities as well as strengthen its balance sheet through re-profiling of its debt portfolio.
The project cost is approximately EUR 60 million.
The project sponsor is Immer Group, a leading supplier of flexible plastic packaging for consumer goods, the owner of Ukrplastic.
IFC said that Immer Group is a 100% family owned business with facilities in Kyiv, Ukraine and Ventspils, Latvia. The group is presently owned by Irina Mirochnik and her three daughters. Ukrplastic’s main facilities are located in Kyiv. The site occupies an area of 11.3 ha, housing 34 buildings with a total built-up area of 74,000 square meters.
The company developed an additional new plastic packaging and processing plant, Immer Digital located in Ventspils. This was very strategic for the company to increase its market base and supply to its customers in Europe and new markets. The plant became operational as of February 2017. This facility, includes limited operations such as digital printing, solvent-less lamination, solvent based and water based lamination and coating, pouch making, manufacturing of label and thermo-shrinkable label, whereas the main ingredients such as BOPP film are supplied from Ukrplastic’s Kyiv operations.
In addition, the company is supported by distribution warehouses used to store the product and for delivery to clients. The company currently has 15 warehouses on site in Kyiv and 11 warehouses in Russia, Europe and Ukraine.
The proposed project entails investment in development of new products, including products for the agricultural sector; refinancing of some loans coming due and investment in the company’s Latvian entity. Specific use of proceeds will be for: equipment for recuperation and reclamation of used solvents in liquid form and solvent vapors; new lamination equipment for specialty packaging; and new roto-printer, enabling higher flexibility.
Ukrplastic is the largest manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging for consumer goods in Eastern Europe.
Kyiv Zhuliany International Airport plans to serve 1.86-1.9 million passengers in 2017, which is 60-68% more than in 2016, given the previously announced data, the director general of Master-Avia, managing the airport, Oleksiy Yakovets, told Interfax-Ukraine after the conference on presenting SkyUp airline in Kyiv.
“Next year we plan to serve about 2.5 million people, but this is if nothing supernatural happens,” he added.
Thus, he said in 2018 the increase in passenger traffic at the airport could reach more than 30%.
Kyiv Zhuliany International Airport is located in the business center of the capital, 7 km from the city center. In the number of flights and passenger traffic, it ranks 2nd in Ukraine.
Imports of electric cars to Ukraine in January-November 2017 grew to 2,676, while in 2016 a total of 2,274 cars were imported to the country, which is 13% less than the current figure, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine has said on its website.
In January-November 2017, UAH 115.6 million of customs payments were paid to the budget, whereas in 2016 this figure was UAH 82.4 million. In particular, in January-November 2017, excise tax on the import of electric vehicles reached UAH 8.4 million against UAH 7 million in 2016, and UAH 107.2 million of VAT against UAH 75.4 million in 2016, the authority said.
The fiscal service also recalled that the import of electric vehicles since 2016 has been exempted from import duty, and from January 1, 2018, the parliament proposed to exempt operations for electric vehicles from VAT and excise tax. However, the president has not yet signed the amendments to the Tax Code adopted at second reading (bill No. 6776-d).
It is planned that the requirement will work throughout 2018, the fiscal service said. If the customs payments were annulled, importers will save more than 20% of the cost.
“For example, if now, when importing a used electric car Nissan Leaf made in 2016, registered by the State Fiscal Service at a cost of $5,600, the importer paid more than UAH 34,300. From the new year importers will save more than 20% of the funds due to the absence of customs payments. As for the new Tesla S, the minimum customs value of which is $103,600, now it is necessary to pay almost UAH 566,500 of customs payments,” the authority said.
Darnytsia wagon repair plant (Kyiv), a branch of public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia, has annulled nine tenders to buy 2,000 drop bottom gondola cars of general use at the expected price of around UAH 1.2 million (VAT included) per car.
According to information on the ProZorro e-procurement portal, the tenders were annulled, as less than two bids were submitted.
Before the opening of bids some amendments were made to the tender documents under a request of potential buyers.
Two bids were submitted only for 250 gondola cars for UAH 299.94 million by Kriukov Car Building Works and Verkhniodniprovsky engineering plant, which also offers cars manufactured by Kriukov Car Building Works. The decision to allow the bidders to participate in the tender will be made.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plans a new five-year project to support reforms in the Ukrainian energy sector with the total cost of up to $90 million, a member of the parliamentary committee for fuel and energy complex, Olha Belkova, has said.
“The project is being finalized and executors are being selected by the U.S. government. The interest, support and desire to cooperate are in our favor,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
She said that the new project would focus on the introduction of competition on energy markets, assistance to municipal authorities, search for new tools of stimulating renewable energy, cyber security of the energy sector, establishment of the energy market regulator, transparency of market information, search for new models to manage the gas transport system (GTS) and Ukraine’s integration into the EU markets.
The press service of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation said that the European Commission launches new three-year project aimed at enhancing the possibilities of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation to regulate nuclear operations, licensing and analyze severe accidents for nuclear reactors. The cost of the project is over EUR 5.5 million.
Biofarma pharmaceutical company seeks to launch a blood plasma fractionator plant in July 2018, Biofarma President Kostiantyn Yefymenko has written on his Facebook page.
“In December, we will receive separators from the German company GEA Westfalia, in February – the bioreactor of the Italian company Olsen, chromatographic complexes and ultrafiltration units from the world’s leading companies such as General Electric, the Marchesini bottling line and in July we are opening a modern fractionator plant,” he said.
The projected capacity of the fractionator, in the construction of which $ 35 million was invested, will amount to 500 tonnes of blood plasma.
“We have a clear goal and plan to become the world’s leader in deliveries to the market. We have the ambition of being among the seven largest global producers of blood plasma,” Yefymenko said.
Biofarma is among the ten largest Ukrainian manufacturers of medical products. It produces more than 20 immunobiological drugs from donor blood.
