Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings expects consolidation in the global life insurance sector to continue, although the pace and structure of transactions will vary by region, according to the Reinsurance News website
Fitch Ratings explains that the flow of deals is driven by insurers’ ongoing efforts to strengthen balance sheets, improve operational efficiency, and allocate capital to acquisitions that can enhance long-term value.
“Although geopolitical tensions, fluctuations in economic conditions, financing constraints, and heightened regulatory oversight in certain markets may affect pricing and transaction timelines, Fitch Ratings does not expect these factors to significantly disrupt the broad trend toward consolidation,” the report notes.
It is also noted that, according to Fitch, consolidation structures vary significantly across different jurisdictions. In Germany, activity is primarily focused on the acquisition of closed or legacy portfolios, with a small number of specialized run-off platforms actively operating, and approximately €25 billion in portfolios expected to become available for transfer in 2026.
In the UK, the market is increasingly shifting toward pension risk transfer (PRT), where defined-benefit pension plan liabilities and related assets are transferred to insurers. Fitch expects the volume of PRTs in the UK to grow to £45–50 billion in 2026, up from £38 billion in 2025, driven by sustained demand from pension schemes seeking to reduce risks, and insurers’ interest in scaling up these operations.
A similar picture is observed in the Netherlands, where approximately €10 billion in pension liabilities is expected to be transferred in 2026. In contrast, in markets such as France and several other European jurisdictions, PRT activity is limited due to structural differences in pension systems.
In the U.S., consolidation is characterized by a combination of reinsurance with intensive asset utilization and active mergers and acquisitions, including block transfers and full-scale company sales, whereas in the Asia-Pacific region, consolidation tends to be more selective, and Japan lacks a national PRT system.
Fitch notes that its assessment of insurers involved in consolidation takes into account how they manage growth while controlling the impact of investment, counterparty, regulatory, management, and operational risks.
“Nova Poshta,” Ukraine’s leading express delivery service and a member of the NOVA Group, announced the opening of two new warehouses at its branches in Vinnytsia and Poltava, which will enable the company to expand its service across Ukraine and speed up delivery by four times.
According to the company’s press release on Tuesday, the investment in launching the mini-hubs, which cover 20 and 30 square meters, exceeded 240,000 UAH.
It is noted that the warehouses began operations at the end of April, with Well Books becoming the first client.
“We are consistently expanding our fulfillment operations in the regions so that businesses can receive a full range of turnkey logistics services: from receiving goods to picking and packing them and shipping them to the final recipient,” the press release quotes Oleksiy Grishin, director of Nova Poshta’s contract logistics department.
According to him, the company’s fulfillment volume grew by more than 50% in 2025. In 2026, Nova Poshta plans to triple these volumes.
Grishin clarified that the company’s goal is to reach over 50 million orders per year by 2030 and build one of the most powerful fulfillment networks in Ukraine.
Nova Poshta noted that it currently operates a total of nine fulfillment centers: three in Kyiv, one each in Lviv, Odesa, and Dnipro, and facilities based at branches in Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, and Poltava.
Over the course of the year, the company plans to open 11 more small fulfillment hubs in regional centers based at cargo branches, specifically in Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Uzhhorod, Rivne, Lutsk, Zaporizhzhia, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Kropyvnytskyi, and Chernivtsi.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2026, Nova Poshta increased its revenue by 26.9% compared to the same period in 2025—to UAH 14.98 billion—and its net profit by 4.4 times, to UAH 1.28 billion.
In 2025, the company increased revenue by 21.6%—to UAH 54.2 billion—and net profit by 4.4%, to UAH 2.6 billion.
Ukrnafta uses state-of-the-art pumping equipment from global leaders to reduce the number of repairs and maximize production at its wells. Currently, 226 electric centrifugal pump units from Baker Hughes, Oil Dynamics, and Alkhorayef are in operation.
“At the same time, we are upgrading cables, pipes, and systems for protection against corrosion and deposits—this is a comprehensive effort involving several company divisions,” noted Ukrnafta Board Chairman Bohdan Kukura. “In 2026, we will continue to upgrade our fleet and scale up these solutions. “I thank the team for their systematic work and the results, which are evident in the numbers.”
Over the past two years, this comprehensive effort and modern equipment have yielded tangible results:
• The number of repairs on wells operated by electric centrifugal pumps has decreased from 48 to 32 per month;
• the interval between repairs for the total fleet of wells operated by electric centrifugal pumps has increased by 75%—from 216 to 377 days, and where foreign-made pumps are installed, this period has reached 600 days;
• some units operate for more than 800 days without maintenance—which is in line with best global practices.
JSC “Ukrnafta”—Ukraine’s largest oil producer—operates the country’s largest national network of gas stations, UKRNAFTA. In 2024, the company entered into an asset management agreement with Glusco. In 2025, it finalized a deal with Shell Overseas Investments BV to purchase the Shell network in Ukraine. In total, it operates nearly 700 gas stations.
The company is implementing a comprehensive program to resume operations and modernize the format of the gas stations in its network. Since February 2023, it has been issuing its own fuel vouchers and “NAFTACard” cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
The largest shareholder of Ukrnafta is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a stake of 50% + 1 share.
In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state the share of corporate rights in the company that belonged to private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Foreign buyers continue to play a significant role in Spain’s housing market, despite record price increases and a gradually intensifying political debate over housing affordability, according to data from Spanish property registries.
In the first quarter of 2026, foreigners completed nearly 25,000 housing transactions, accounting for about 14% of all sales in the country. This figure marked the fourth-best result in the history of the data series. Meanwhile, the average price per square meter in Spain reached a new all-time high of EUR 2,429 per square meter.
Despite a slight year-over-year decline of 3.2% in the number of foreign transactions, international demand remains steady. The majority of foreign buyers are EU citizens, accounting for 58.3% of such transactions. The largest groups of buyers in the first quarter were citizens of the United Kingdom (6.8%), the Netherlands (6.6%), Morocco (6.2%), Germany (6.0%), and Italy (5.5%). Buyers from France, Romania, and Poland also account for a significant share.
Geographically, foreign demand remains concentrated in tourist and coastal regions. The highest share of transactions with foreigners was recorded in Alicante—44.6%, Málaga—34.3%, the Balearic Islands—28.9%, the Canary Islands (22.8%), and Murcia (21.7%). This confirms that foreigners primarily purchase housing in areas popular for leisure, rentals, and migration.
This growth in demand is occurring against the backdrop of a general rise in housing prices. The average price of real estate in Spain rose by 8.9% over the year. Resale homes increased in price by 9.6%, while new construction rose by 6.9%. The most expensive regions remain the Community of Madrid—EUR4,407 per square meter, the Balearic Islands—EUR4,173, the Basque Country—EUR3,474, and Catalonia—EUR2,852. Among cities, San Sebastián leads the way at EUR6,154 per square meter, followed by Madrid at EUR5,428 and Barcelona at EUR4,922.
Mortgage lending is also supporting demand. In the first quarter, the number of mortgages rose by 15.2% year-over-year, and about three-quarters of housing transactions were financed with a loan. This shows that the market relies not only on buyers with cash on hand but also on the availability of bank financing.
Over the longer term, foreign demand also remains high. In 2025, foreigners purchased nearly 97,300 houses and apartments in Spain, setting a new record. Their share of total transactions was 13.8%, compared to 14.6% in 2024 and 15% in 2023.
Ukrainian buyers are also a notable presence in the Spanish market. According to data from Spanish notaries, in the first half of 2025, Ukrainian citizens completed 2,165 real estate transactions in Spain, setting a historic record for themselves. Idealista notes that Ukrainians joined the group of nationalities that purchased housing in Spain more actively in 2025 than ever before.
Separate statistics on Ukrainians show that their interest in Spain is linked not only to investment but also to relocation, temporary refuge, and long-term residency.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine for the January–March 2025 period rose by 11.13% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2025—to more than 60.245 billion UAH, while in volume terms they decreased by 4.8%—to nearly 270,958 thousand packages, the company “Business Credit” reported to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine,” citing data from a study.
According to the data, the weighted average price of the pharmacy basket of goods for January–March 2026 was 222.34 UAH per package, which is 16.78% higher than during the same period a year earlier.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines during this period increased by 13.9% in monetary terms—to more than 48.426 billion UAH—and by 4.85% in volume terms compared to the same period in 2025, reaching nearly 211.947 million packages.
The weighted average retail price of medicines for the first two months of 2026 was 228.49 UAH per package, which is 8.63% higher than in January–March 2025.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of dietary supplements in the first three months of 2026 increased by 14.5% in monetary terms—to nearly 7.03 billion UAH—while sales in volume terms decreased by 14.97%, to 22.378 million packages. The weighted average price in this segment rose by 34.7%—to 314.13 UAH per unit.
As reported, pharmacy sales in Ukraine for 2025 increased by 14.23% in monetary terms compared to 2024—to more than UAH 220.287 billion, while in volume terms they decreased by 2.25%—to nearly 1.135 million packages. The weighted average price of items in the pharmacy basket at the end of 2025 was 194.68 UAH per package, which is 16.86% higher than a year earlier.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines during this period increased by 12.79% in monetary terms—to nearly UAH 170.318 billion—while in volume terms, they decreased by 0.2% compared to 2024, to 808.546 million packages.
The weighted average retail price of medicines at the end of 2025 was 210.65 UAH per package, which is 13% higher than at the end of 2024.
The pharmaceutical company “Farmak” remains the leader in retail sales in 2025 among domestic companies, with sales of nearly 10.978 billion UAH. The top 5 also included the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” (7.473 billion UAH), “Kyiv Vitamin Plant” (KVZ, nearly 6.842 billion UAH), ‘Arterium’ (5.975 billion UAH), and “Pharma Star/Acino” (2.9 billion UAH).
In April, 3,007 electric vehicles (new and used) were added to Ukraine’s vehicle fleet, which is 48% less than in April 2025 but 49% more than in March of this year, Ukravtoprom reported on its Telegram channel.
The majority of electric vehicles registered during the month were passenger cars—2,837 units (of which 536 were new and 2,301 were used), while only nine of the 170 commercial electric vehicles were new.
The most popular new electric vehicles in March were the BYD Leopard 3 – 96 units (34 units in March 2026); BYD Sea Lion 06 – 73 units (30 units); MG 4 EV – 38 units (not in the top five); Volkswagen ID.UNYX – 36 units (21 units) and Zeekr 001 – 33 units (30 units).
Among used vehicles, the most frequently registered for the first time were the Nissan Leaf – 345 units (226 units in March of this year); Tesla Model Y – 283 units (212 units); Tesla Model 3 – 265 units (210 units); Renault Zoe – 120 units (101 units) and Chevrolet Bolt – 117 units.
As reported, electric vehicles are gradually seeing a resurgence in demand and slowing the rate of decline compared to the same periods last year following a slump at the beginning of this year, particularly amid rising fuel prices (gasoline and diesel) at gas stations.
In 2025, Ukraine’s vehicle fleet was expanded by 110,200 electric vehicles—twice as many as the previous year. The share of new vehicles was 20%, compared to 24% in 2024.
In particular, in December, the last month of VAT-free customs clearance for electric vehicles, demand for them increased 8.6-fold compared to December 2024—to 32,800 units.
