Ukrainian businessman and owner of DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky is holding talks with U.S. and Chinese investors in Davos on the possibility of locating new production sites on the territory of Kharkiv Tractor Plant and discussing prospects of co-financing Sukha Balka mining with banks.
“Earlier 45,000 people worked at the Kharkiv Tractor Plant. The plant produced 50,000 tractors, and now it employs 3,000 and produces 1,000 tractors.” There are free capacities for other industries. I want to attract partners,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in Davos on Friday, where the World Economic Forum is taking place these days.
Yaroslavsky recalled that he bought Kharkiv Tractor Plant in April 2016 “almost in ruined condition.”
“The plant has idle for a year, it has lost almost all markets. I want to breathe new life into it,” the owner of DCH said.
According to him, in fact, it is about the intention to create an industrial park on the basis of the territory of Kharkiv Tractor Works, which is 150 hectares, as well as to increase the number of employees working at the plant by times.
Speaking about the development of Sukha Balka, which he bought in May of 2017 from Evraz, the businessman noted the prospects of this enterprise and the intention to attract co-financing for the implementation of new projects at it. According to him, he is discussing this opportunity with both commercial banks and international financial institutions, in particular he met with representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“With me, banks are ready to go into these projects,” the owner of DCH said.
Yaroslavsky said that this year, on his trip to Davos he focused on these “point meetings” that, in his personal opinion, would be more useful than discussing the general economic outlook for Ukraine and its investment climate.
He said that Ukraine remains the main focus of his investment.
“I said that I would invest in Ukraine and buy Ukrainian enterprises, and every year I confirm this with real deals: Kharkiv Tractor Plant, Sukha Balka, INGO insurance company [bought in July 2017]. These are big projecta and they require careful attention. There are plans for purchases in 2018,” he said, while at the same time he refused to specify them.
