Business news from Ukraine

GROYSMAN SUPPORTS CREATING COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS TO IMPLEMENT SOLAR POWER PROJECTS IN EXCLUSION ZONE

KYIV. May 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has stated the need to create competitive conditions for the companies that wish to implement solar energy projects in the exclusion zone.
According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the government is considering the possibility of implementing solar energy projects in the exclusion zone and the zone of unconditional (mandatory) resettlement, which will help attract new investments and strengthen the country’s energy security.
“We believe it is necessary to create absolutely competitive conditions for those companies that want to take part in these large-scale projects (for the development of solar energy) so that they do this openly, publicly, through understandable procedures and mechanisms so that we could receive the best investments, minimize any interference and do everything very competitively, transparently,” Groysman said.
He noted “clean energy” will allow Ukraine to reduce dependence on conventional power sources.
“We have the opportunity to place powerful equipment to generate electricity. We see that we can accept the equipment and distribute it across the country,” Groysman stressed.

CYPRIOT SANATRA HOLDINGS LTD. INTENDS TO BUY 20% IN KYIV-BASED DSK-4 DEVELOPER

KYIV. May 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sanatra Holdings Ltd. (Cyprus) intends to purchase 121.705 million common registered shares of PJSC House Building Plant No. 4 (DSK-4), one of the largest developers in Kyiv, which is part of Kyivmiskbud holding.
According to the buyer’s statement in the press, the company and its affiliates are not currently the shareholders of DSK-4.
According to the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, the share capital of DSK-4 as of the end of 2016 was 608.524 million common registered shares with a nominal value of UAH 0.05 per share.
Thus, Sanatra Holdings Ltd. intends to acquire a 20% stake in the construction company.
DSK-4 was founded in 1995 and is part of Kyivmiskbud holding. The structure of the enterprise includes three construction and assembly departments, the department of production and technological equipment and a plant of reinforced concrete products.

PEUGEOT DEALER NETWORK IN UKRAINE OPENS CENTERS IN DNIPRO, ODESA AND RIVNE

KYIV. May 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The new official dealer centers of Peugeot, fully compliant with the brand standards, since the beginning of this year have opened in Ukraine in Dnipro, Odesa and Rivne, the press service of Peugeot Ukraine has reported.
According to the announcement, the new auto center of Peugeot in Dnipro, AIS Autocenter Dnipro, opened in March. The center with an area of 3,200 square meters has a showroom (400 sq m), designed for 12 cars, a service center and a spares warehouse.
At the same time, the authorized service center is one of the largest in Ukraine: the area of the repair zone exceeds 1,300 square meters, and 14 posts allow serving up to 50 cars per day.
As reported, AIS Group, having become a dealer of Peugeot, invested more than EUR200,000 in the reconstruction and launch of its commercial and office complex in Dnipro to create a new Peugeot auto center on its basis.
According to a press release, in April the company opened a new Peugeot auto center in Odesa, Adis Motor, built in the new Blue Box format, offering a full service cycle (or 3S: sales, service, spare parts).
The autocenter in Rivne, which opened on May 11, is the only official dealer of Peugeot in Rivne region. It includes a showroom for up to nine cars.

METRO CASH & CARRY UKRAINE RAISES SALES IN HORECA SEGMENT BY 50%

KYIV. May 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Metro Cash & Carry Ukraine (Kyiv), part of Germany’s Metro Group, since the launch of the HoReCa delivery service has increased sales of products in this segment by 50% in comparison with 2016.
“Our growth was approximately 50% against last year. A large increase in the number of customers and sales,” Director of the METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine delivery service Halyna Dzhandan told Interfax-Ukraine, adding that the figures are given for the period from November 2016 to April 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.
According to her, since the launch of the HoReCa delivery service in November 2016 in five cities with the population of over one million and Ivano-Frankivsk, the company has covered 25% of this market.
“We tried to attract the maximum number of customers and now we serve about 2,500 trade outlets through delivery, which is nearly 25% of all HoReCa services in these cities. Having analyzed the market, we came to the conclusion that 85% of HoReCa is located in the cities with the population of one million and Ivano-Frankivsk. And in principle we target 65% of the market with our services,” the expert said.

MEGABANK TO INCREASE CHARTER CAPITAL BY 32.3%

KYIV. May 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Megabank (Kharkiv) has decided to increase charter capital by UAH 200 million or 32.3%, to UAH 820 million through an additional share issue.
The bank said in the press its shareholders at a general meeting on April 26 decided to increase charter capital.
The bank will hold a private placement of shares. The shares will be placed at a price of UAH 1, which equals their nominal and market value.
Megabank was founded in 1990.
According to the bank, its shareholders are Viktor Subotin (direct and indirect participation of 60.89% of the charter capital), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with 15.00%; German Development Bank KfW with 15%, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with 6.02%, Elena Subotina (direct and indirect participation of 10.76%).
The bank ranked 21st among 90 Ukrainian banks as of April 1, 2017 in terms of assets (UAH 8.996 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

KYIV CITY SIGNS MEMO ON BUILDING FOURTH SUBWAY LINE WITH CHINESE CONSORTIUM

KYIV. May 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv City Administration has signed a memorandum of cooperation with a Chinese consortium, consisting of China Railway International Group and China Pacific Construction Group, for the implementation of a project to build the fourth subway line in the city.
According to a posting on the administration’s website, Deputy Head of Kyiv City Administration Mykola Povoroznik signed the document during a visit of a Ukrainian delegation to China. The delegation took part in the dialog at the high level at the One Belt, One Road forum.
Povoroznik said that under the memo the Chinese consortium having large experience in building infrastructure projects is a managing partner of the project to build the fourth subway line in Kyiv. The consortium intends to analyze the current state of the project implementation.
“Specialists from China would study the current state of the implementation of the project on construction of the fourth subway line in Kyiv. They would consider technical details, the volume of financing and the legal way thanks to which the project will be completed. The study would also include the assessment of legal and financial viability of the project, including the feasibility study and the estimated spending,” he said.
According to the memo, the consortium of Chinese company could act as contractor operating under the Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) conditions and implement projects using the EPC+F (EPC plus financing) model.
The Chinese consortium would help Kyiv City Administration to attract funds of Chinese financial institutions, which would help to establish cooperation with the Chinese government and implement large infrastructure projects.