KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Insurance companies in Ukraine in 2016 increased OSAGO premium collection by 14.7% compared to 2015, to UAH 3.407 billion.
According to the website of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU), the number of OSAGO contracts for the past year increased by 3.3%, to 7.049 million.
According to the MTIBU, the total volume of insurance claim fee payments under internal insurance contracts for the year increased by 29%, to UAH 1.405 billion. Of these, UAH 151.688 million was paid using Europrotocols, which is 2.09 times more than in 2015.
The bureau also recorded an increase in the number of regulated claims for insurance compensation – by 20.6%, to 119,186, of which 20,487 using Europrotocols.
The Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine is the only association of insurers, conducting compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners for harm caused to third parties. The bureau members are 54 insurance companies.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Norway’s Scatec Solar is mulling construction of two solar power plants with the installed capacity of 60 MW in Ukraine, the press service of Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has reported.
The press service said that Deputy Energy and Coal Industry Minister Natalia Boiko and representatives of Scatec Solar discussed construction of solar power plants at a meeting on Tuesday.
Scatec Solar operates solar power plants with a capacity of 322 MW in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ruanda, Honduras and Jordan.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Vega launch vehicle (LV) with the Ukrainian engine was successfully launched on Tuesday from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The Sentinel-2B Earth observation satellite for Copernicus was put into orbit.
According to a report on the website of Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash, Dnipro), the launch from the spaceport in French Guiana was the ninths launch under the Vega program and first in 2017.
According to the report, the Sentinel-2B satellite is the fourth satellite launched for Copernicus.
Copernicus (earlier GMES) is a global environment monitoring system aimed at achieving a global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide range Earth observation capacity.
The Vega was designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for carrying satellites with a weight up to 1,200 kilos to a 1,200-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit and satellites with a weight of 1,500 kilograms to a 700-kilometer polar orbit. The RD-868P cruise engine for the fourth stage of the rocket was developed by the Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau and built by the Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) Plant (both situated in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine).
The Ukrainian government and the ESA signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space in 2008. The ESA unites 17 European countries.
The medium-term plans announced by the Ukrainian State Space Agency in 2015 include Ukraine’s gradual entry into the ESA and integration of the Ukrainian rocket and space industry with the European one.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s alcohol company Olymp is looking for an investor to finish construction of the second phase of Malinowski Glass Plant and converting the facilities of the screwing cap plant (both based in Kharkiv region).
“The Malynivka industrial park [Prime distillery, Malinowski Glass Plant and the screwing cap plant] is the only cluster in Ukraine of this type. Diversity and unrestricted possibilities of the industrial park foresee permanent development and search for investors,” Olymp Board Chairman Mykola Usachev told Interfax-Ukraine.
Olymp was founded in April 2000. It produces and sells vodka under the Prime, Idea, Malynivka and Istynna brands. The founder and owner of Olymp is businessman Pavlo Klymets.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The regional department of Ukraine’s State Property Fund (SPF) has put 99.998% of the share capital of public joint-stock company Spektr-Smela (Cherkasy region), a upholstered furniture fitments producer, up for sale.
According to an announcement in the Vidomosti Pryvatyzatsii newspaper, the initial price of the stake is UAH 36.719 million. The auction will be held on March 31.
According to the conditions of the tender, technological unity and integrity of production are to be retained, new types of products are to be developed and arrears in payments to budgets and payment of wages cannot be recorded.
The fund said that in 2016 sales of the company grew by 17%, to UAH 14.9 million. The balance sheet profit was UAH 1.73 million compared to UAH 700,000 a year ago, and net profit totaled UAH 1.42 million compared to UAH 570,000.
The company’s receivables as of January 1, 2017 was UAH 3.85 million, and accounts payable – UAH 3.53 million, production efficiency was 9.5%. The cost of assets amounted to UAH 34.7 million and the net worth – UAH 32 million.
Spektr-Smela was founded in 1995. The company produces mechanisms for transforming sofas, furniture brackets, hinges, corners, wheel supports, carcasses of sofas and beds, as well as tooling. It also provides metal processing services.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The International Finance Corporation (IFC) from the World Bank Group could provide EUR 20 million for its own account and up to EUR 20 million of a syndicated or mobilized financing to public joint-stock company Ukrplastic (Kyiv).
The project is intended to expand and modernize the group’s operating capacities as well as strengthen its balance sheet through re-profiling of its debt portfolio, IFC said on its website.
The IFC Board will discuss the project on May 12, 2017.
The project cost is approximately EUR 60 million.
The project sponsor is Immer Group, a leading supplier of flexible plastic packaging for consumer goods, the owner of Ukrplastic.
IFC said that Immer Group is a 100% family owned business with facilities in Kyiv, Ukraine and Ventspils, Latvia. The group is presently owned by Irina Mirochnik and her three daughters. Ukrplastic’s main facilities are located in Kyiv. The site occupies an area of 11.3 ha, housing 34 buildings with a total built-up area of 74,000 square meters.
The company developed an additional new plastic packaging and processing plant, Immer Digital located in Ventspils. This was very strategic for the company to increase its market base and supply to its customers in Europe and new markets. The plant became operational as of February 2017. This facility, includes limited operations such as digital printing, solvent-less lamination, solvent based and water based lamination and coating, pouch making, manufacturing of label and thermo-shrinkable label, whereas the main ingredients such as BOPP film are supplied from Ukrplastic’s Kyiv operations.
In addition, the company is supported by distribution warehouses used to store the product and for delivery to clients. The company currently has 15 warehouses on site in Kyiv and 11 warehouses in Russia, Europe and Ukraine.
The proposed project entails investment in development of new products, including products for the agricultural sector; refinancing of some loans coming due and investment in the company’s Latvian entity. Specific use of proceeds will be for: equipment for recuperation and reclamation of used solvents in liquid form and solvent vapors; new lamination equipment for specialty packaging; and new roto-printer, enabling higher flexibility.
Ukrplastic is the largest manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging for consumer goods in Eastern Europe.
