The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) has sold the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi seaport for UAH 108 million including VAT (approximately USD 2.6 million) at an English auction on the Prozorro platform.
“The State Property Fund’s team held four online privatization auctions in the Prozorro.Sale system, including the Belgorod-Dniester Sea Commercial Port,” the SPF press service reported on its website on Friday.
The auction was held at the 13th attempt, the statement said.
“The initial price of the asset was UAH 88.9 million, and the final price was UAH 90 million. The winner of the auction will additionally have to pay UAH 18 million in VAT, so the total economic effect may amount to UAH 108 million,” the SPF said, adding that the buyer will also pay off the company’s debt, which is included in the list of privatization conditions.
According to the company, as of June 30, 2024, its overdue wage arrears reached UAH 15.16 million, and overdue accounts payable amounted to UAH 151.31 million.
The auction in Prozorro was announced on October 30 and was conducted in the form of a three-round English auction (for price increase – IF-U). The highest (closed) bidder had the right to make the last move in each round. On November 7, the auction closed.
The winner of the auction was TOP OFFER LLC, which offered UAH 108 million including VAT for the lot and paid a guarantee fee of UAH 17.97 million. Open sources indicate that the ultimate beneficiary of TOP-OFFER LLC is Yevhen Bohuslavskyi, who, according to Opendatabot, is also the founder of TESTUDO Group LLC and FC INKAM LLC. He was also a director of such companies as Factoring Company Paritet LLC and NRC-Ukraine LLC. It is also reported that his activities also include charitable initiatives through the International Charitable Foundation “European Future”.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the SPF has made several attempts to sell the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ICC. Initially, the port was put up for sale on March 3 for UAH 187.57 million, but then its starting price was reduced to UAH 93.78 million, and the auction was won by businessman Vitaliy Kropachev’s Ukrdoninvest LLC, but the company refused to buy at the stage of agreeing on the terms of the sale agreement. Subsequent attempts to sell it in June, with a price reduction to UAH 92.46 million, were unsuccessful due to the lack of bids.
Biosphere Corporation, one of the market leaders in the production and distribution of household goods, has approximately doubled its European business in 2024, sets the same goal for the next year and aims to create a “billion-dollar company”, the corporation’s founder and CEO Andriy Zdesenko said at the 10th Kyiv International Economic Forum.
“And we are growing. This year we will grow twice as much. And next year our ambition is to grow two more times,” he said at the forum’s closing session on Thursday evening.
Zdesenko noted that Biosphere currently operates in 27 markets already, and the most serious step to enter international markets was made after the start of full-scale Russian aggression.
“We acquired the Austrian company Alufix with the brand, c 4 branches and their production in Romania. Just when we had a 30% drop in turnover (in Ukraine), because our audience left, and now another (dropped) by 10%, because the constant increase in prices, unfortunately, people are getting poorer (…) the average check is falling,” – added the head of ‘Biosphere’.
According to him, thanks to the program of global development, expansion in Europe and in Asia, the corporation managed to continue to grow. He pointed out that Biosphere’s brands “Freken Bok”, Smile are leaders in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the company has a very strong presence in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.
“Next year we plan to open production in Uzbekistan, because there is a 100-million-strong cluster there,” Zdesenko said.
He also noted that Biosphere has established an international advisory board that meets in Vienna and whose members include three Americans and two Europeans.
“These are world-class people who help us build a strategy for world expansion. Because we have a goal to create a billion-dollar company (…) There are such ambitions, and we are creating Biosphere 2.0,” Zdesenko emphasized.
According to him, the corporation has dozens of global competitors, working without restrictions, which are now present in Ukraine.
“And the main challenge for Biosphere is how to be at the same pace, to win with ideas, intelligence, design, wow products, innovation, with the same sophisticated equipment, and where to take all the millions of investments needed for this,” – added the founder and CEO.
He pointed out that along with this competition, the company is additionally spending resources to provide electricity, notably installing a 1.5 MW gas generator last week, helping the army and the community.
Among the challenges in operating in the European market, Zdesenko cited differences in corporate cultures, logistical challenges and financing challenges, as the parent company of National Bank Acts is limited in financing from Ukraine for its international subsidiaries.
“We want to do expansion, we want to produce for Europe, but we can’t finance: marketing, advertising, people, capex, support, growth…,” he stated.
Biosphere Corporation has been working in Ukraine for more than 25 years. Its product portfolio includes more than 1 thousand items under 16 own trademarks (“Freken BOK”, “Fainiy Bonus”, Vortex, Lykit, Smile, Smile Baby, Superfresh, Bambik, Novita, Lady Cotton, Alufix, PRO service, GoWipes, “Chista Peremoga”, Pany Blisk and PoketMon). The corporation is an official distributor of such international brands as TORK, Selpak and Fantom.
The corporation’s capacities in Ukraine are represented by three plants with a total production area of 35 thousand square meters in Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev and Khmelnitsky regions, as well as logistics complexes with an area of 30 thousand square meters. m. Together with the French Groupe Lemoine, Biosphere also owns a cotton products plant in Estonia with an area of 8.5 thousand square meters.
At the end of 2023, a new FOOD direction was opened with its own production Cupsoul, represented by such tea brands as Graff, Ritz Barton and others.
The State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine will hold an online auction for the sale of a special permit for the extraction of gabbro in the Zarichna area of the Rudnia Shlyakhova deposit for a period of 20 years. NADRA.INFO reports with reference to UBIZ.ua. The auction was initiated by Monolith PE*.
The starting price is UAH 5,129,755.21. The period for submission of bids is 11.11.2024 18:00 – 26.11.2024 20:00. The guarantee fee is UAH 1,025,951.04.
As of 01.01.2024, the State Balance of Mineral Reserves of Ukraine recorded gabbro reserves of the Zarichna area of the Rudnia Shlyakhova deposit in the amount of (thousandm3), by category: “Facing stone”: A – 220.92, B – 558.0; A+B – 778.92; “Building stone”: A – 19.0, B – 46.0; A+B – 65.0 (source).
In administrative terms, the Rudnia Shlyakhova deposit is located 400 meters east of the village of Rudnia Shlyakhova, Zhytomyr district, Zhytomyr region.
Nearby, within a radius of 1.5 km, 4 gabbro areas are licensed:
Read our advice to quarry buyers here
BUY SPECIAL PERMITS FOR SUBSOIL USE HERE
*– Monolith PE (Irshansk, Zhytomyr region) is owned and headed by Vitaliy Kovalenko (YouControl). The company holds two valid special permits for subsoil use – No. 2861 and No. 5160.
**– Vesta LLC (Khoroshiv, Zhytomyr region) is controlled by Volodymyr Shevchenko, Hanna Tereshchenko, and Heorhiy Kuvelas. The director is Ivan Shevchuk (YouControl). SD No. 3893 is the only one in the company’s arsenal.
***– The subsidiary of Blue Stone-1 LLC (Khoroshiv, Zhytomyr region) is controlled and headed by Yevhen Oliynyk (YouControl). SD No. 4043 is the only one in the company’s arsenal.
****– Amethyst MP LLC (Zhytomyr) is controlled by Oksana Karamanits and Ksenia Lyakh. It is headed by Valeriy Parshakov (YouControl). SD No. 2695 is the only one in the company’s arsenal.
*****– Ilona (Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region) is controlled by Oleksandr Dubinin and Valentyn Shumskyi. It is headed by Mykola Bovsunovsky (YouControl). SD No. 5070 is the only one in the company’s arsenal.
Russia’s war against Ukraine can easily end if the US administration under Donald Trump takes a solution-based approach, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, according to the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak.
“If in the Trump era we see a US administration that approaches the issue from a settlement perspective, we can easily end this war. More weapons, more bombs, more chaos and conflicts will not end this war. More dialogue, more diplomacy, more reconciliation will open the door to peace,” Erdogan said while talking to journalists on board the plane after returning from Budapest.
He noted that Turkey is “a country that has managed to bring both sides to the same table.”
“We have done it many times and we can do it again. This war must end now,” Erdogan emphasized.
According to him, Turkey has focused its efforts on achieving peace and will continue to do so. “We hope that in the new period we will be able to start from scratch and achieve peace, in which all conflicts and wars will end,” the Turkish leader said.
In his opinion, Trump’s election as US president will have a serious impact on the political and military balance in the Middle East. In addition, Erdogan said that he had invited Trump to Turkey.
“I hope he will accept our invitation and thus strengthen cooperation between Turkey and the United States,” he said.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Iryna Mudra met with Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce John Denton and President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gennadiy Chyzhykov.
According to the Presidential Office’s website on Friday, the key topic of the meeting was the possibility of the International Chamber of Commerce cooperating with the international compensation mechanism being created to implement the 7th point of the Peace Formula, “Restoring Justice.”
“As a global business organization, the International Chamber of Commerce can contribute to understanding how the private sector can benefit from the international compensation mechanism. Such interaction will help ensure economic recovery and effective reconstruction,” Mudra said.
According to her, Ukraine is doing everything necessary to join the European Union, including reforms to improve the judicial system, investment opportunities, and business environment.
Denton spoke about possible areas of activity of the International Chamber of Commerce to attract investment to Ukraine, improve the business climate and create effective tools for resolving commercial disputes.
In January-October this year, Ukrainian steelmakers increased production of total rolled products by 20.6% year-on-year, up to 5.264 million tons from 4.365 million tons, according to preliminary data.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom on Friday, steel production during the period increased by 25.7% to 6.487 million tons, and pig iron production by 21.9% to 5.981 million tons.
In October, the company produced 442.2 thousand tons of rolled products, 603.8 thousand tons of steel, and 624.9 thousand tons of pig iron, compared to 503.9 thousand tons of rolled products, 610 thousand tons of steel, and 624.1 thousand tons of pig iron in the previous month.
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine increased production of total rolled products by 0.4% compared to 2022 to 5.372 million tons, but reduced steel production by 0.6% to 6.228 million tons, and pig iron by 6.1% to 6.003 million tons.
In 2022, Ukraine reduced production of total rolled products by 72% compared to 2021, to 5.350 million tons, steel by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons, and pig iron by 69.8% to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of pig iron (103.6% compared to 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), and 19.079 million tons of rolled products (103.5%).
