Dragon Capital Investments Limited, a member of the Dragon Capital Group, and Dragon Capital New Ukraine Fund L.P. managed by the company led a new investment round and became minority shareholders in Ciklum, a global digital solutions company with major footprint in Ukraine.
According to a press release of Dragon Capital, AVentures Capital participated in the investment round and acquired a minority stake in the company.
The size of minority stakes of all three companies is not disclosed.
“We believe that ongoing global digital transformation will support increasing demand for IT solutions and services, and that Ciklum is very well positioned to capitalize on this sustainable trend. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in London, Ciklum has one of the largest footprints in Ukraine, great expertise and access to IT talent. We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to support one of the leading companies in the segment, which is run by great management and shareholders,” Managing Director, Co-Head of Private Equity at Dragon Capital Andriy Nosok said.
“We are excited to welcome Dragon Capital and Aventures Capital to our shareholder base. This investment will continue to propel Ciklum’s rapid growth in delivering cutting edge technologies to clients around the globe,” Chief Executive Officer of Ciklum Michael Boustridge said.
Dragon Capital group of companies was founded in 2000 and it is one of the largest on the Ukrainian investment market. It works in the field of direct investment and financial services, provides a full range of investment banking and brokerage services for corporate and private clients.
Dragon Capital New Ukraine Fund L.P. was created in November 2015. Dragon Capital manages the funds. Soros Fund Management (SFM) acts as the co-investor in the fund.
Ciklum is a leading global digital services and software engineering company founded in 2002. Ciklum provides services to design and test software, it is involved in innovative research and design, works with Big Data and engineering consulting services.
AVentures Capital was founded in 2012. It invests in IT companies at various stages of their development.
Ribas Hotels Group LLC (Odesa), the managing company of the national chain of three- and four-star hotel and restaurant complexes, has completed the acquisition of a hotel in Bukovel, Ivano-Frankivsk region, and plans to build a new one there by the end of 2019. “In December 2019, the managing company Ribas Hotels Group plans to open a new hotel in Bukovel. The facility is located in Polianytsia (162a Vyshni Street), next to ski lift No. 1,” the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
The new hotel will be built on the site of the previously acquired hotel facility, which has already been dismantled. The hotel will occupy 3,200 square meters; $4 million will be invested in the project, the company said. “The hotel will offer 45 rooms, and include a spacious restaurant with a terrace, co-working with panoramic mountain views. Before the blueprints were drawn up, we talked to pro skiers and snowboarders, so infrastructure for active tourists takes into account the smallest details… There will also be rooms for guests with disabilities,” General Director of Ribas Hotels Group Artur Lupashko said.
According to him, the swimming pool, Finnish saunas and Roman baths, spa tubs, a massage parlor and a large spa area are almost ready.
As Lupashko earlier said, Ribas Hotels Group in 2019 plans to channel UAH 300 million in investors’ funds into the construction of new hotels. As of February 2019, it manages 25 hospitality facilities.
Ribas Hotels Group LLC (Odesa) was established in 2017.
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The most popular presidential candidates are showman Volodymyr Zelensky, Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko and incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, according to a poll conducted by the Sociological Monitoring Center, the Yaremenko Ukrainian Institute of Social Research, Info Sapiens and the Rating Group Ukraine.
According to the results of the survey presented in the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency, 81% of those polled said they would vote in the presidential elections, with 45% saying they would definitely vote, and 36% saying they would most likely vote.
Some 21.9% supported the candidacy of Zelensky, Tymoshenko – 19.2% and Poroshenko – 14.8%.
The poll was conducted from January 19 through January 30, 2019. Some 10,000 persons aged 18 and older were questioned in all regions of Ukraine, except occupied Crimea and occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The margin of error of the survey does not exceed 1%.
The Finance Ministry, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Ukrgasbank have started assessing and structuring the financial took allowing IFC to enter the capital of this state-owned bank, the Finance Ministry reported.
“This is the most important stage in the implementation of the fundamentals of the strategic reform of the public banking sector… IFC’s entry into Ukrgasbank’s capital will be a powerful signal for international investors and will contribute to the further development of the banking system in general,” Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said.
The Finance Ministry said that the transition to this stage became possible as a result of the successful fulfillment of the terms of the tripartite memorandum of understanding signed in November 2017 to support the privatization (sale) of the bank by the ministry and Ukrgasbank.
According to the memorandum, IFC helped Ukrgasbank to strengthen corporate governance, ensure its operational independence, and further improve its stable banking model based on commercial viability.
Successful cooperation between the state-owned bank and IFC has already allowed for more than 145 projects in the field of clean energy using biofuels, hydropower, solar and wind energy with a total capacity of 866 MW, which is a quarter of all renewable energy facilities in Ukraine. Thanks to these projects, CO2 emission reduction has reached more than 1 million tonnes annually.
As reported, in November 2017, Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance agreed on cooperation with IFC in the process of privatization of Ukrgasbank. The memorandum of cooperation also envisaged a possibility of entering the capital of the bank by IFC to support its sale. The investment will depend on several factors, including the outcome of the due diligence of the bank.
Ukrgasbank was established in 1993 and the state represented by the Ministry of Finance owns 94.9% of its shares. Since 2015, the bank has been included in the list of state-owned facilities of strategic importance for the economy and national security.
