The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on December 22, 2021 allowed Altituda closed non-diversified venture corporate investment fund on behalf of, in the interests and at the expense of which PrJSC AMC Altera Asset Management operates, to directly acquire 99.593% of shares of PrJSC Ukrainian Joint-Stock Insurance Company ASKA (Zaporizhia), according to the website of the central bank.
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, as of the third quarter of 2021, Altituda owns 66.0075% of the shares of PrJSC Insurance Company VUSO (Kyiv).
As reported at the end of November 2021, SCM investment company of Rinat Akhmetov announced that it had reached preliminary agreements on the sale of ASKA to VUSO insurance company. The completion of the transaction and the transfer of the corporate rights of ASKA to the buyer must be carried out after all procedures stipulated by the law, obtaining permits and approvals from the NBU.
On December 22, 2021, the NBU decided to cancel 34 licenses for insurance issued to ASKA on the basis of its application, except for the license for compulsory insurance of civil liability of land vehicle owners (OSAGO).
The company was engaged mainly in property types of insurance: property insurance, that against fire risks and risks of natural disasters, cargo and luggage and financial risks.
According to the statements presented by ASKA for the nine months of 2021, the volume of insurance premiums amounted to UAH 853.75 million, the value of assets – UAH 501.1 million, the market share in insurance reserves – 2.55%.
At the same time, the company announced the presence of unfulfilled (overdue) obligations to policyholders (beneficiaries) and valid insurance contracts. At the same time, it provided information on the availability of formed insurance reserves.
ASKA is the first private insurance company that appeared in independent Ukraine, has been operating for over 30 years. It is part of the portfolio of the international investment company SCM.
KSG Agro agricultural holding will increase rapeseed crops this year by at least 22% from 820 hectares last year to at least 1,000 hectares in 2022, in order to increase the harvest of winter wheat, according to a press release from the group of companies on Monday.
At the same time, the cultivation of winter wheat in areas where rapeseeds were previously sown, allows to increase its yield by 5-10 tonnes per ha.
“Our strategy is to reach at least 1,000 hectares of cultivated areas under rapeseed. We harvest rapeseed in June, and until mid-September it allows us to prepare the soil well, having accumulated a sufficient amount of moisture in it. As a result, the wheat that we sow on these sown areas gives good shoots and has time to open up,” the press service of KSG Agro said, quoting Production Director Dmytro Emelchenko.
The similar decision allowed the agricultural holding in 2021 to get an increase in the yield of winter wheat at the level of 5-10 tonnes per ha compared to wheat sown after sunflower.
The vertically integrated holding KSG Agro is engaged in pig breeding, as well as in the production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds. Its land bank is about 21,000 hectares in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 10/01/22
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of January 10
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in 2021 increased the rate of electrification of tracks by 23 times compared to the average annual electrification rate over the past eight years, to 70 km.
As reported on the company’s website, at the moment, work continues on the strategically important section of Kovel – Izov – State Border, railway workers have already electrified 43 km of the route.
“The implementation of the electrification project in this direction will have a huge positive result for the company and the country: from energy saving to reducing the cost of purchasing fuel and lubricants, from increasing the throughput of the site to simplifying the technology for organizing traffic,” Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia management board Oleksandr Kamyshin said.
The company said that work on the Kovel – Izov – State Border section is taking place within the framework of the Big Construction program of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It is expected that the electrification of the section will increase the capacity of the direction and, accordingly, reduce the time for transporting goods to the EU countries.
In addition, electrification will allow increasing the weight of freight trains from 4,600 tonnes to 5,500 tonnes, and to reduce the operating costs of the railway by UAH another 136.4 million per year and significantly reduce emissions into the atmosphere (up to 12,000 tonnes per year).
The Kovel – Izov – State Border section is located within Volyn region and is currently operated by diesel traction. The main freight traffic is export iron ore, which flows from enterprises in the Kryvy Rih area to metallurgical enterprises in Poland. The section is the most costly part of the route of this traffic flow.
The Ukrainian real estate investment fund Focus Estate Fund has acquired the Turawa Park shopping center in Opole (Poland) from the international investment management group abrdn for an undisclosed amount, the fund’s general partner Maksym Shkolnik has said.
“This is our fourth asset in Poland, and we plan to continue scaling our portfolio in the Polish market, where we have been present for more than five years,” he said.
BNP Real Estate, which operates the shopping center, brokered the deal. B2R Law, CSWP, Dentons, CMS and Gleeds advised on this transaction.
Turawa Park is a multi-format shopping center with a total area of over 35,000 square meters, which has more than 60 stores. It includes a gallery with an area of 18,000 square meters, a retail park of 8,000 square meters, and the area of DIY stores – 9,000 square meters. The parking area is designed for 1,320 cars.
Turawa Park’s anchor tenants are such well-known brands as Carrefour, Reserved, Sinsay, Media Expert, Action, Smyk. Other tenants are Rossmann, Big Star, C&A, Pepco, Levis, Sephora, Deichmann.
According to the press service of the fund, at the time of the acquisition, the total vacancy rate was 29%.
“We see good prospects in the value-added retail segment in which we operate. Custom retail parks and neighborhood malls have proven to be some of the most resilient classes during the pandemic. As for the deal itself, it was rather complicated, and I would like to thank the abrdn team for their professional and balanced approach,” Shkolnik said.
The fund’s portfolio includes three more shopping centers in Poland in the cities of Sandomierz, Zgorzelec and Bartoszyce.
At the end of 2021, Focus Estate Fund sold two of its retail properties in the Czech Republic to the DRFG investment group: Centro Ostrava Retail Park and Most Retail Park.
Focus Estate Fund is a real estate investment fund focusing on non-premium medium-sized retail properties in Central and Eastern Europe.
