Business news from Ukraine

China Harbour Engineering Сompany Ltd. won an auction to carry out dredging at the Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region) held on March 14 in the ProZorro e-procurement system. The company won two lots. The press service of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority reported that the first lot included dredging in the approaching canal and the second – dredging in the operation area of first boot basin of Sukhy estuary.
China Harbour Engineering Сompany offered UAH 87.149 million (VAT not included) for the first lot and UAH 316.999 million (VAT not included) for the second lot, which were the best offers for each lot.
The Ukrainian Sea Port Authority saves UAH 4.62 million (VAT not included) for the first lot and UAH 36.033 million (VAT not included) for the second lot.
“Thanks to the high competition between the companies during the auction, it was possible to get the most attractive price and in general save more than UAH 40 million. As China Harbor Engineering Company has already proved to be a reliable contractor for the dredging project in the port of Yuzhny, we are counting on the same qualitative and responsible approach to the dredging project at the port of Chornomorsk,” Head of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Raivis Veckagans said.
The final results of the tender will be announced in the ProZorro system after studying the proposal of the winner for compliance with the terms of the tender documentation.

Ukraine plans to raise a EUR 150 million loan from Germany’s KfW. The funds will be sent to infrastructure projects.
The press service of the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine reported that the plans were discussed at a meeting of the Ukrainian panel of the joint Ukrainian-German working group for selecting projects to financing using the KfW loan held on March 13 with the participation of representatives of the Infrastructure Ministry, Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrainian Sea Port Authority, Kyiv City Administration, Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Economic Development and Trade Ministry, Finance Ministry and Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.
“Now we have three priority project proposals: the completion of the automotive component of the railway and bridge crossing the Dnipro River in Kyiv, the modernization and renewal of the rolling stock of Ukrzaliznytsia, the construction of a breakwater and dredging in the water area of the port of Odesa,” Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan said, adding that first of all the ministry takes into account the need for the funds to complete the bridge across the Dnipro Rivere.
“I think Germany will support this project. Upgrade and modernization of the rolling stock is also a priority for Ukrzaliznytsia, it is economically viable,” Omelyan said.
After the meeting, the proposals will be forwarded to Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister Hennadiy Zubko and eventually to Germany for approval.

The High Court of Justice in London (the UK), following sessions in early March, has issued a ruling obliging Rossyn Investing Corp., Milbert Ventures Inc and ZAO Ukrtransitservice Ltd, firms associated with Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, to detail the information on $1.9 billion worth of transactions with PrivatBank (Kyiv) funds received from other persons.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) earlier claimed that prior to its nationalization in December 2016, PrivatBank was involved in large-scale and coordinated frauds, which caused at least $5.5 billion in damage. The NBU hired Kroll to audit PrivatBank.
After the nationalization, the bank became 100% owned by the state and UAH 116.8 billion (over $4.4 billion at the current rate) in additional capital was injected into it through the issue of government bonds and an exchange of them for the bank’s shares.
Late in June 2017, the Cabinet decided to inject another UAH 38.5 billion (almost $1.5 billion) into the bank on the basis of NBU proposals and conclusions by EY, which audited PrivatBank. The first tranche worth UAH 22.5 billion was allocated in July 2017 and another UAH 16 billion in December 2017.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman predicts the launch of the Innovation Development Fund in Ukraine in July this year, according to his Twitter page.
“This year we have allocated UAH 50 million for the Innovation Development Fund, which will start work in July. And this money will be enough to finance up to 80 Ukrainian start-ups, each of which will receive between $25,000 and $75,000,” Groysman said.
Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Oksana Markarova, in turn, said that the idea of creating the fund to support start-ups was positively accepted by businesses.
“A transparent fund, maximally distant from officials, in accordance with the best models that worked in Israel, France and other countries, in which we will attract additional co-investment from our international partners and possibly business, can become a real center of the start-up system in the large innovative galaxy of Ukraine,” she wrote on Twitter.
According to Markarova, on March 20 the council for the development of innovations in Ukraine, created last year, will begin active work on launching the fund and forming its future bodies both within the framework of a specially created working group and jointly with experts and the public.
As reported, in July 2017 Groysman supported the idea of creating a “fund of funds” to support Ukrainian start-ups on the terms of public and private partnership.

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed at first reading government’s bill No. 4571 amending Article 5 of the law on distribution of samples of audiovisual pieces, phonograms, videograms, software and databases, which transfer control over the issue of license keys and labels to owners of these products.
Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mykhailo Titarchuk said, when presenting the bill, cases have recently recorded when fraudsters illegally receive license keys using fictitious license agreements, and therefore “we offer a simple mechanism to counteract these phenomena.” According to him, the bill clarifies the procedure for applications for obtaining license keys and labels and introduces a rule under which owners can control the issue of these keys and labels and timely counteract the illegal use of these protective elements.
The bill provides that within three working days after the issue of license keys and labels, the Ministry of Economic Development will publish a list of designations for which the license keys and labels have been issued, data on the applicant for which a decision has been made to issue license keys and labels, the issuance date and the quantity of issued license keys and labels on its official website. “The bill is aimed at creating an additional mechanism to combat piracy and violating the rights of copyright items,” Titarchuk said.
According to him, the adoption of this bill will improve the investment climate in Ukraine and create more favorable conditions for doing business.