KYIV. Jan 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The territorial agencies of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre in 2015 provided leasing rights to farmland parcels in state ownership with a gross area of 27,920 ha to investors at auctions, which is 3.8 times up on 2014.
The service said on its website that the largest number of land parcels in 2015 was leased to investors in Odesa region (4,931 ha), Volyn region (3,433 ha) and Lviv region (3,036 ha). The smallest number was leased in Chernivtsi region (130.4 ha), Ivano-Frankivsk region (221.6 ha), Zaporizhia region (221.7 ha) and Zakarpattia region (229 ha).
“For the major part of land parcels the starting rent rate was set at 4% of their pecuniary value (with the bottom rent rate set in Ukrainian law at 3%). At auctions the rent rates were increased to 7% of land pecuniary value on average in the country,” the service said.
In some regions the rent rate for the use of land was increased by 2.5 or even three time compared to the starting rate. The large increase in the rates was seen in Khmelnytsky (3.13 times), Lviv (2.54 times) and Dnipropetrovsk (2.34 times) regions.
KYIV. Jan 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – UMG Holding, uniting assets in the raw materials sector, industrial production and sales of the SCM financial and industrial group, plans to raise over $100 million of foreign investment by 2021 to create new business directions.
UMG Holding President Andriy Horokhov said at a briefing on Thursday that these goals are outlined in the company’s development strategy for the period until 2021.
Among other strategic plans are the further development of existing businesses and the achievement of the annual turnover of over $300 million, while in 2015 revenue was $164 million.
Horokhov said that it is planned to launch five new business directions in the raw materials and adjacent segments, depending on demand on the market.
UMG in 2007-2015 invested $82 million in business, and the investment plan to support existing production in 2016-2013 is $115 million.
UMG Holding is a diversified holding company focusing on asset management in the raw materials sector, industrial production and sales. It was founded in 2006 as clay production business.
At present, the holding works in three key directions: clay production, flux and dolomite production and processing and sale of ancillary products of thermal power plants.
KYIV. Jan 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The French-Ukrainian investment forum, initially scheduled for November 18, 2015 in Paris and postponed due to terrorists’ attacks in the city, will be held on April 5, 2016, Ukrainian Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister and Ukraine’s Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska has said.
“On April 5 the forum in France that was postponed in 2015 will be held. The date is confirmed. We want to make a public announcement jointly with France,” she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
She said that the conference will be officially announced within a week.
She said that the holding of the similar forum with Canada is being discussed.
Mykolska added that it is planned to hold two more large conferences outside the country this year. One conference is devoted to the opportunities in trade with Ukraine and another one both to investment and trade.
As reported, in 2015, the Ukrainian government jointly with business organizations held two investment conferences in Washington and Berlin.
KYIV. Jan 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian developers have launched an ODA (One Day Auction) mobile application for iOS, which allows users to sell, bid and buy artworks from all over the world, and are now in talks to raise $2 million for this project, ODA said in a press release.
The application works with all types of mobile platforms, including Web. It is free for all users. The initial investment in the project was $200,000.
“Now we are holding talks with large world companies, which are very interested in further investment of $2 million in our product,” the press release quoted CEO and Founder at ODA Inc. Olha Nikitova as saying.
ODA is a combination of Instagram-like features and popular platforms for sales of artworks online – Paddle8, ArtNet, Artsy, Saatchi Online, but it also offers social networking features, the press release said.
ODA’s content is updated on a daily basis. Besides its main function as a platform for online auctions, the ODA app is also a great application to discover art world and connect with another artlovers.
The bid span on ODA is from $50 to $10,000.
“In the next six or 12 months, we will expand the range of any collectibles – starting from pieces of decorative and applied arts and paintings and ending with rare automobiles and collections of fine and rare vintage wines,” ODA Frontend Developer Vlad Yanchevsky said.
KYIV. Jan 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Frunze Plant (Kharkiv), the leading Ukrainian manufacturer of fencing systems, plans to increase its presence in the European market and is studying the issue of setting up production in Kazakhstan or Belarus to compensate for losses from the abolition of a free trade area (FTA) regime between Russia and Ukraine.
According to a press release from the company, with reference to its board chairman Oleksandr Vasylenko, January showed that exports of goods to Russia are becoming much more expensive.
“Duties of 6% to 15% were imposed on our products. In addition, Russian customs officers, guided by internal documents, sometimes increase the price of products by almost two times that simultaneously raises the amount of VAT for our trading partners,” he said.
In addition, he said the devaluation of the ruble plays into the hands of Russian manufacturers making similar products.
Frunze Plant, founded in 1885, produces screens for agriculture machinery, flooring grills, netting and fencing systems for the construction industry, elements of urban environment (waste baskets, benches), storage racks and others.
KYIV. Jan 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko together with his deputies in charge for the relevant issues has discussed the participation of China Haisum Engineering Co. in the development and construction of infrastructure projects in Kyiv.
“I am happy that investors are interested in projects in Ukraine, in particular, in Kyiv. Our task is to create the best conditions for investors, so that they have an opportunity to invest money and develop business in the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv has an enormous potential in terms of resources. We have many attractive investment projects and a large number of qualified professionals in various sectors. Despite the challenging economic environment, Kyiv has managed to attract UAH 1.7 billion, and we continue working with investors,” the press service of the Kyiv City Administration cited Klitschko on Wednesday.
The city major noted that the city was actually looking for investors to finance the construction and development of its infrastructure in order to finish the construction of the Podilsko-Voskresensky bridge, a subway line to Troyeschyna, and a large motorway orbital road, as well as to fund the construction of social objects, namely, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and sports facilities.
Haisum Engineering’s Manager of International Business Department Gong Jun, in turn, said that his company was interested in cooperation with Ukrainian municipal authorities and participation in the construction of social objects of the city.
The parties have agreed that the next meeting to deliberate the details of the company’s participation in Kyiv’s construction projects will be held in April. “The Chinese partners will take this time to get acquainted with the projects which were presented by the city administration and the Kyiv investment agency,” the statement said.
Haisum Engineering is a state-run Chinese company with offices in South and South-East Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America, the press-service of the Kyiv City Administration said. The company implements numerous projects in housing, utilities and infrastructure rehabilitation and modernization and can raise funds from the Chinese Investment Bank.
