Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

SUMITOMO ELECTRIC BORDNETZE-UKRAINE OPENS NEW PLANT IN CHORTKIV

KYIV. Dec 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze-Ukraine (Ternopil region), a manufacturer of cable products for Volkswagen Concern, and 100% in which is owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze, has opened the first stage of a new production site in Chortkiv (Ternopil region) with the participation of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

“When it was decided that the new production will be in Chortkiv and there was nothing, nobody believed that in December the plant will be launched and 500 new jobs will be created, and in 2018 their number will exceed 2,000. In March [the investor] was transferred Agromash plant, and there was only wind here, there were no walls, only ruins, and those who come here, including Audi representatives, thought nothing will happen. But the uniting of the potential of Ukrainian, German and Japanese investments have done their job,” the president said at the opening ceremony.

He said there is an agreement with the investor regarding increasing wages to the employees.

“We discussed with the investor what wage will be. First we talked about UAH 3,800-4,000. But no, it will be up to UAH 6,000! And we agreed that by the end of the year we’ll raise it by another 15% – and this will be a gift from the president,” Poroshenko said.

He said the investor is ready to continue investment in Ukraine.

Sumitomo Group is one of the largest Japanese corporations. The group consists of companies working in the financial sector, engineering industry, electrical industry, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, and many others.

AGRICULTURE MINISTRY BACKS RELAXATION OF PRODUCTION LICENSE ISSUE TO WINE MAKERS

KYIV. Dec 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The procedure for issuing a production license should be relaxed for wine makers, Director of the horticulture and viticulture department of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine Viktor Kostenko has said.

“We ask the Cabinet of Ministers to create a working group consisting of representatives of all agencies involved in the issue of production licenses,” he said at the National Winemaking Forum.

He said that the license issue should be relaxed for wine makers, depending on their size.

Kostenko said that the State Fiscal Service demands only seven documents for receiving the license, while around 134 documents in six different agencies are to be collected to get them.

MORTGAGE CREDITING SLIGHTLY INTENSIFIES IN 2016 – NBU

KYIV. Dec 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Mortgage crediting of individuals slightly intensified in 2016, demand on mortgage is growing, as well as the number of applications for mortgage credits approved by banks, according to a December report on financial stability published by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

“The crediting conditions poll conducted among banks in Q3 2016 shows that demand on mortgage credits is slightly growing along with the number of applications for mortgage credits approved by bank. Deposit corporations credit purchase of apartments and houses both on the primary and secondary markets. According to intermediaries, the share of residential housing bought in credit does not exceed 5%,” the NBU said.

The regulator said the conditions for provision of new mortgage credits are tough.

Along with buyers of apartments banks also credit constructors both in Kyiv and the regions.

“Large companies take credits for the period of up to three years. Smaller companies receive short-term credits from banks used to support the pace of construction if they fail to quickly sell apartments. However, the crediting of constructors is small. The key source of financing is own funds of companies and payments by apartment buyers,” the central bank said.

UKRAINIAN STARTUP SIXA RAISES $3.5 MLN FROM THREE INVESTMENT COMPANIES

KYIV. Dec 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian company Sixa, which has developed an application for access to a high-performance virtual computer in the “cloud,” has raised $3.5 million from U.S.-based Tandem Capital fund, as well as the investment companies Horizon Capital and Digital Future.

“Sixa is a very valuable company for Digital Future’s portfolio. Fight among investors for the opportunity to finance this startup to a certain extent was aggressive. You be the judge: the project, which boasts rapidly growing sales without the help of marketing, whose customers subscribe for software upgrade,” Digital Future partner and founder Oleksiy Vitchenko told Interfax-Ukraine.

The investment company has not disclosed the amount of investment.

Sixa is a service that allows users to obtain their own virtual high-performance computer in the “cloud,” using which one can perform the most complicated tasks. The service is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Android. Users pay on an hourly basis for the service.

Sixa focuses primarily on developers, designers and gamers.