KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Austrian investment banker Uwe Christian Eschner has said that he seeks to acquire a large stake in Investbank (Odesa).
According to a report in the information disclose system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, the banker intends to acquire 45.55 million of the shares with a face value of UAH 58.305 million. This is 65.7% of the charter capital as of October 1, 2016.
Investbank was founded in 1992.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of June 7, 2016, its largest shareholders were Oleksandr Nezvinsky (directly 19.9649%, indirectly 24.0455% via Bab-invest LLC), Nika Teplits (indirectly 41.2577% % via Tesa LLC), Ihor Teplits (directly 5.7264%), Serhiy Yablonsky (indirectly 3.7529% via Agro-Invest Ukraine) and Tamara Nezvinska (directly 2.353%).
The bank ranked 76th among 100 operating banks as of October 1, 2016, in terms of total assets worth UAH 410.2 million, according to the NBU.
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – McKinsey & Company will develop a “roadmap” for the first phase of the updated Energy Strategy of Ukraine until 2035.
Such a preliminary agreement was achieved at a meeting of the steering committee to coordinate work on the preparation of the Energy Strategy 2035 under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion.
According to his press service, the previous draft strategies prepared by the National Institute for Strategic Studies and the Razumkov Centre were presented as well, while the participants discussed the possibility of uniting the documents to finalize the strategy.
“The development of this document is necessary for the sustainable development of the energy sector of Ukraine. We have to see our objective in the medium term and understand the ways to achieve it,” Kistion said.
According to him, applications to the main document, the so called roadmaps, will be developed for separate stages defined in the strategy.
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) has stated investors are highly interested in the privatization of hydroelectric power stations on the Pivdenny Buh River and said there are potential buyers of Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) and Odesa port-side chemical plant.
“We already have more than ten applications for each hydroelectric power plant, and the majority of interested parties are foreigners. There are those interested in buying UBRD and Odesa port-side plant,” SPF Head Ihor Bilous wrote on his Facebook page.
At the same time, he noted that, unlike the applicants themselves, the fund has no right to disclose the names of the companies, their country of origin and quantity, as well as comment on someone’s statements.
Bilous said the SPF is preparing transparent and open tenders and waits for all the candidates, while the final list of participants will be determined by competitive commissions.
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A research vessel Iskatel on November 17 will start a voyage from Odesa to explore shelf for oil and gas near the Snake Island in the Black Sea.
The press service of Ukraine’s State Service of Geology and Deposits, the Iskatel vessel is the only research vessel in Ukraine. It would resume exploration of shelf after a three-year idle period. In 2015 the vessel was repaired.
The Iskatel vessel is a unique vessel for seismic and exploration works.
The press service said that the southern area of the country is a promising one and the least explored.
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales in 2017 would exceed petrol sales, Director of A-95 consulting group Serhiy Kuyun has said.
“In the past three years LPG sales grew by more than 1.5 times. In 2016, the volume of LPG sold in liters would be the same as petrol, and in 2017 LPG sales would exceed petrol sales,” he said at the Petroleum Ukraine 2016 conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Kuyun added that the large growth of the LPG segment is linked to lower prices compared to petrol.
He recalled that this was clearly seen after removing obstacles created for importers of LPG in the times when Viktor Yanukovych was president. The expert said that geography of LPG supplies to Ukraine expands today. This year LPG even came from Sweden, Egypt and Italy.
“It is likely that Ukraine would enter the top five largest LPG consumers in the world,” he said.
KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyivsky cardboard paper mill (Obukhiv, Kyiv region), a leader in Ukraine’s pulp and paper industry in terms of production and sales, produced goods worth UAH 3.481 billion in January through October 2016, which is 12.7% up year-over-year.
According to the UkrPapir association, the mill saw a rise in production of corrugated cardboard packaging and production of base paper in kind in the first 10 months of 2016. Cardboard production decreased by almost 5%, to 16,120 tonnes.
Cardboard production fell due to the decline in production of commodity cardboard (including corrugating paper) by 5.5%, to 97,280 tonnes and a fall in production of box cardboard by 4%, to 161,100 tonnes.
Corrugated cardboard output grew by 6%, to 171.59 million square meters. The mill remains the leader in production of corrugated cardboard.
Production of base paper (for sanitary products) rose by 7.3%, totaling 62,740 tonnes. Production of toilet paper, where the mill is a strong leader among other producers, grew by 2.8%, to 336.13 million rolls.
Cardboard packaging production in Ukraine grew by 8.1% in January through October 2016, to 668.44 million square meters, while paper and cardboard output grew by 2.7%, to 682,060 tonnes.
Kyivsky cardboard paper mill is one of the largest cardboard and paper producers in Europe. It employs almost 2,200 people. It sells produce to almost 700 companies in Ukraine, some CIS member states and the rest of the world.
It mainly produces goods from wastepaper. Its capacity for processing wastepaper exceeds 850 tonnes a day.
In 2015, the mill saw a 54% rise in production from 2014, to UAH 3.857 billion.
