Business news from Ukraine

KYIV. May 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DTZ and Cushman&Wakefield have reached a definitive agreement to merge and plan to close the deal by late 2015 and it is subject to customary closing conditions.

KYIV. May 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union requires the joint efforts of the Ukrainian government, parliament and president, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski has said.

At an international conference entitled “Ukraine-EU: A Year after the Signing of the Association Agreement,” which was held in Kyiv, he said the government, parliament, president, and everybody interested in this process must become united.

Tombinski said that the successful implementation of the agreement depends on three elements, the first of which is that all state officials believing that the integration process is necessary not just for the European Union, but for Ukraine itself.

He said the second element is constant dialogue with society as the reforms being carried out in Ukraine require dialogue that will help ease social problems caused by the reforms.

He went on to say that the third element is the support of Ukraine-EU integration by all EU 28 member states.

KYIV. May 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has decided to put state stakes in four power generation companies, seven combined heat and power plants, and 11 regional power generation companies up for sale in 2015.

The companies approved for sale are listed in Cabinet resolution No. 271 dated May 12, 2015, which was posted on the government’s official website.

A 78.29% share in PJSC Centrenergo will be put up for sale, as well 25% of shares in PJSC Donbassenergo, PJSC DTEK Dniproenergo and PJSC DTEK Zakhidenergo each.

Also, a 25% share of PJSC Kyivenergo, PJSC DTEK Dniprooblenergo, PJSC DTEK Donetskoblenergo, PJSC Odesaoblenergo, PJSC Sumyoblenergo each will be put up for sale. The government also plans to sell the following state stakes in 2015: 65% of JSC Kharkivoblenergo, 60.25% of OJSC Zaporizhiaoblenergo, 70% of PJSC Khmelnytskoblenergo, 70% of PJSC Mykolaivoblenergo, 46% of PJSC Cherkasyoblenergo, and 51% of OJSC Ternopiloblenergo.

A 99.83% share of PJSC Kherson combined heat and power plant will be offered for sale, as will 99.99% of PJSC Odesa combined heat and power plant, 100% of PJSC Mykolaiv combined heat and power plant, and a 99.93% share of PJSC Dniprodzerzhynsk combined heat and power plant, state-run enterprise Severodonetsk combined heat and power plant, state-run enterprise Kryvorizka combined heat and power plant, and Kalush combined heat and power plant each.

The Cabinet also approved the sale of Kostiantynivska hydro-electric power station, Pervomaisk hydro-electric power station, and Myhiya hydro-electric power station.

As reported, two out of the four stakes in the power generation companies planned for sale are controlled by Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK (a 72.9% stake in Dniproenergo and a 72.2% stake in Zakhidenergo). Ihor Humeniuk’s Energoinvest Holding owns 60.8% of Donbassenergo’s shares, while the state holds 78.2% of Centrenergo’s shares.

KYIV. May 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has forecasted that the Ukrainian grain harvest in 2015 will reach 55.33 million tonnes against 64.1 million tonnes in 2014.

In particular, the USDA projects that in 2015 Ukraine will harvest 22 million tonnes of wheat, 33.33 million tonnes of fodder grain, and 26 million tonnes of maize.

According to the USDA, Ukraine may export 28.68 million tonnes of grain in the 2015/2016 marketing year (July through June), which will be 16.1%, or 5.51 million tonnes, down on exports expected in the current marketing year (34.19 million tonnes: 22.690 million tonnes of fodder grain and 11.5 million tonnes of wheat).

Ukraine is expected to supply 10.5 million tonnes of wheat to the world market in the new season, while fodder grain exports are expected to total 18.18 million tonnes, including 16 million tonnes of maize.

Ukraine’s State Statistics Service reported that the grain and leguminous crops harvest in Ukraine in 2014 totaled a record high of about 63.8 million tonnes, including 24.1 million tonnes of wheat, 9.04 million tonner of barley, and – 28.45 million tonnes of maize.

Ukraine’s Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry projects grain exports in the current marketing year to reach 32 million tonnes.

KYIV. May 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The UkrAVTO Corporation’s PJSC Zaporizhia car plant ZAZ, which resumed operating at full capacity in April 2015, manufactured 277 passenger cars, while its output in March 2015 was a mere 5 cars.

At the same time, output in April 2015 against April 2014 plunged by 85.8%, Ukrautoprom Association has reported.

In April 2015, ZAZ did not manufacture trucks and buses, whereas in April 2014 it produced 35 trucks and 17 buses.

ZAZ passenger cars output fell by 96.5% in January-April 2015, to 282 cars, while bus output dropped by 87.2%, to four buses, and it did not produce a single truck (240 trucks in the first four months of 2014).

As reported, ZAZ has drawn up a vehicle manufacture schedule for one quarter and its further plans will be unveiled after the first half of 2015 due to the unclear prospects for development and the current situation of the Ukrainian new vehicles market

Previously, the plant had said that production was being restored gradually. In March the component workshops started operation and welding of the car bodies began in early April.

ZAZ currently manufactures Lanos, Sens, Lanos- van, Forzа, and Vida cars. It also produces trucks and buses using TATA components.

KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Rostok-Holding agro-industrial group (Kyiv) plans to harvest 300,000 tonnes of agricultural crops in 2015, which is 10.7% more than last year.

According to a company press release, it has successfully completed the spring sowing campaign: the work was carried out in the best agro-technical terms, and spring crops were sown on 39,600 hectares.

At the same time, areas sown with maize compared to the previous year fell by 9.2%, to 21,800 ha, sunflower – by 22.8%, to 11,200 ha, while soybeans – increased by 2.9%, to 3,500 ha.

In addition, in 2015 Rostok-Holding planted 2,300 hectares with spring barley, which it did not grow last year. The area sown with fodder crops for dairy farming was about 800 ha.

Rostok-Holding, created in 2010, is a vertically integrated agro-industrial group. It specializes in the cultivation and sale of crops, production, processing and sale of dairy products, and grain trading.