The London Court of International Arbitration on April 26 annulled key provisions of PJSC Ukrnafta’s shareholders agreement of 2010, the press service of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, which owns 50% plus one share in Ukrnafta, has said. “”The judges of the arbitration court have concluded that the key provisions of the shareholder agreement between Naftogaz and the companies of [Ihor] Kolomoisky on corporate governance of Ukrnafta are not subject to execution, since they contradict the binding provisions of the corporate legislation of Ukraine,” Naftogaz said.
In particular, the court cancelled Article 9 of the agreement that concerns the election of the chairman of Ukrnafta’s board from among the candidates proposed by minority shareholders (Kolomoisky’s companies). Also, the court overturned the provision according to which the minority shareholders shall nominate five of the 11 members of the supervisory board of Ukrnafta with a quorum of eight members of the board. “The Tribunal ruled that, in general, the shareholder agreement is applicable, although its key provisions on corporate governance of Ukrnafta are not enforceable,” Naftogaz concluded.
As reported, Naftogaz and Ukrnafta’s minority shareholders (the companies that are affiliated with the Privat Group, namely Littop Enterprises Limited, Bridgemont Ventures Limited, Bordo Management Limited, Balliotti Enterprises Limited, Renalda Investments Limited) in January 2010 entered into a shareholders’ agreement, which, in particular, determined the procedure for electing the chairman and members of the board, as well as the supervisory board and the required quorum for the country’s largest oil producer.
According to the document, the chairman of the board should be elected from the candidates proposed by the minority shareholders, and six of the 11 members of the supervisory board and its head should be nominated by Naftogaz. At the same time, the quorum required the presence of eight of the 11 members of the board, which at that time did not contradict the law on joint-stock companies. In March 2015, after the law was amended, the quorum for supervisory board meetings was reduced to a simple majority of votes.
In June 2015, Ukrnafta’s minority shareholders filed a lawsuit with the London arbitration court demanding that Naftogaz should adhere to the terms of the shareholder agreement, even though the rights of Naftogaz were restricted as those of a controlling shareholder, in comparison with the rights provided for by the current legislation. Naftogaz owns a 50% + 1 share in Ukrnafta, while a group of companies affiliated with the former shareholders of PrivatBank have about 42% of the shares.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has invited football fans to Kyiv to visit the UEFA Champions League 2018 final to take place in Kyiv on May 26. A video clip where Klitschko jointly with head coach of the national team of Ukraine and UEFA Champions League final ambassador Andriy Shevchenko took part was posted by Klitschko on his Facebook page. “Friends, Kyiv is preparing for a large sports event that will host for the first time – the UEFA Champions League final. We expect that around 100,000 guests would visit our city,” Klitschko wrote.
He said that a Ukrainian creative team worked on the video clip. Funds from the Kyiv city budget were not spent on making the clip.
The shareholders of PJSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kyiv) at an annual meeting on April 27 approved the payment of UAH 4.244 billion in dividends for 2017 (approximately 6.9 kopecks per share), the bank has said. According to its report, the bank’s net profit for the past year amounted to UAH 4.469 billion, of which UAH 700,000 will be used to pay dividends to the holders of preferential shares, and almost UAH 223.5 million to the reserve fund of the bank.
The shareholders also decided to change the type of the joint-stock company to a private joint-stock company, in connection with which the name of the bank was changed from PJSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval to JSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval, the release said.
The shareholders elected the supervisory board headed by Martin Grull. Andriy Stepanenko became his deputy. The members of the supervisory board were elected Joseph Eberle, Harald Kroeger, Robert Fritz, Andreea Moraru, Anna Derevyanko, Pavlo Sheremeta, and Daniel Bilak. Raiffeisen Bank Aval was founded in 1992. According to its data, as of January 1, 2018 Raiffeisen Bank International owned 68.28% of the charter capital of the financial institution, the EBRD some 30%. Raiffeisen Bank Aval ranked fifth among 84 operating banks in terms of assets as of January 1, 2018 (UAH 72.108 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
The revenues of Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, in February 2018 decreased by 9.4%, or by $95 million, compared to the previous month, to $914 million from $1.009 billion. According to the preliminary unaudited consolidated monthly financial results of the company, EBITDA for February was $196 million, which is 14% ($32 million) less compared to January ($228 million).
According to the report, the adjusted EBITDA of the metallurgical division of the group in February 2018 was $120 million (in January some $140 million), including $12 million from participation in the joint venture ($11 million), while that of the mining division was $113 million (in January $110 million), in particular from JV some $18 million ($14 million). The management company’s expenses amounted to $7 million.
Total revenues in February 2018 consisted of the income of the metallurgical division in the amount of $778 million ($866 million in January), the mining division in the amount of $322 million ($255 million), while intra-group sales stood at “minus” $186 million (“minus” $112 million). The company’s total debt in February fell by $53 million compared to January, to $3.042 billion from $3.095 billion, while the amount of cash increased by $9 million, to $282 million from $273 million.
Consumer confidence of Ukrainians in March 2018 improved by 2.3 points, to 57.7 compared to the February figures after a negative trend in January and February, according to data from GfK Ukraine. According to the report, in March Ukrainians were optimistic about the stability of the national currency: the devaluation expectations index showed the greatest dynamics and fell by 9.9 points, to 149.9. GfK Ukraine also notes that in March the index of propensity to consume rose by 6.8 points compared to February (to 65.2), while the index of expected changes in personal financial standing was up by 4.3 points (to 58.8).
“The most positive dynamics of the index of propensity to consume and the index of expected changes in personal financial standing has been recorded in the large cities (over 500,000 residents),” GfK Ukraine analysts commented.
In March, Ukrainians were also optimistic about inflationary processes: the index of inflationary expectations fell by 4.2, to 183, GfK Ukraine said. GfK Ukraine has been surveying households to determine consumer confidence in Ukraine since June 2000. Some 1,000 respondents are polled.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ukraine’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘. The Outlook is Stable, Fitch has said in a press release. In addition, Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at ‘B-‘; Outlook Stable; Long-Term Local-Currency IDR affirmed at ‘B-‘; Outlook Stable; Short-term foreign-currency IDR affirmed at ‘B’; and Short-term local-currency IDR affirmed at ‘B’. Country Ceiling affirmed at ‘B-‘.
Ukraine’s ratings balance weak external liquidity, a high public debt burden and structural weaknesses, in terms of a weak banking sector, institutional constraints and geopolitical and political risks, against improved policy credibility and consistency, the sovereign’s near-term manageable debt repayment profile and a track record of bilateral and multilateral support.
