The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has allowed the state-owned Ukrposhta to buy Alpari Bank.
“The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Ukrposhta permission to acquire Alpari Bank. In conditions when many bank branches are closed, there is no connection in many places, and only Ukrposhta operates there, it is very important that modern banking services appear there. And Ukrposhta” he will definitely do it,” CEO of Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.
He also said that this decision would save the country up to UAH 10 billion in three to four years.
“We thank the Antimonopoly Committee for the positive decision, we thank those who supported us, and we are preparing the last step – the decision of the NBU,” Smelyansky said.
As reported, in 2021, Ukrposhta submitted documents to agree on a deal to buy Alpari Bank from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to the NBU, as of January 1, 2022, the sole shareholder of Alpari Bank was a UAE citizen Bakhtari Hedayat-Allah Musa. According to the central bank, as of March 1, 2022, the bank is solvent and has assets in the amount of UAH 221.9 million.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has permitted the Dragon Capital investment company to acquire over 50% of the shares of Treeum Holdings Limited, the owner of the Finance.ua and Minfin.com.ua publications, as well as Finline, Bank Online and Multi.ua.
“Permission is granted to Dragon Capital Investments Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) to acquire shares of Treeum Holdings Limited (Larnaca, Cyprus), which grants that 50% of the votes in the company’s management body are exceeded,” the committee said on its website on Monday.
According to the information on the holding’s website, Treeum is a Ukrainian online platform that compares and sells financial products, supports an online currency exchange platform, reliable ratings and statistics, as well as news, comments and professional analytics.
The revenue of Finance.ua in 2019 amounted to about UAH 17.8 million, net profit – about UAH 0.5 million, that of Minfinmedia – UAH 36.9 million and almost UAH 1 million, respectively, Banking Class – UAH 10.9 million and UAH 0.1 million.
Multi.ua and Finline last year saw revenues of UAH 6.6 million and UAH 1.3 million, respectively, and a net loss of UAH 0.7 million and UAH 2.3 million.
According to the public register, Ksenia Vaisman, a Russian citizen living near Kyiv, is indicated as the beneficiary of Treeum Holdings Limited.
This year, USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project (FST) financed the launch of the LIGA.Money platform by LigaBusinessInform Investment Agency. According to the agency, NV and Finclub also participated in the competition, while the companies of Treeum Holdings were not admitted to it.
Dragon Capital is one of the largest investment companies in Ukraine. It works in the field of direct investment and financial services, provides a full range of investment banking and brokerage services to corporate and private clients. The ultimate beneficiary of Dragon Capital in the public register is a Czech citizen, President of the European Business Association Tomas Fiala.
Fiala is the owner of the NV media holding, which includes the eponymous magazine, portal and radio.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) at a meeting on Monday allowed a nonresident individual to acquire over 50% of the shares of BTA Bank (Kyiv).
“Permission is granted to an individual – a citizen of the Republic of Belarus to purchase shares of JSC BTA Bank, which grants that 50% of the votes in the management body of the company are exceeded,” the committee said on its website on Monday.
BTA Bank was founded in 1992. According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), at the beginning of 2020, Kenes Rakishev was a shareholder of the bank, who indirectly owned 100% of the bank’s charter capital.
According to the NBU, as of October 1, 2020, BTA Bank ranked 71st in terms of assets (UAH 385.612 million) among 74 operating banks.
Anti-trust agency opens case against Naftogaz for setting prices for households too high
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) has opened a case about the possible abuse of monopoly position by Naftogaz Ukrainy when setting natural gas prices for the population from November 1, 2018, the committee’s website reports.
The AMC reported that Naftogaz has special obligations to sell gas to domestic consumers (the public). At the same time, the company sets prices in this market segment based on the price of gas for industry, which it offers.
According to information available to the committee, Naftogaz set prices for industrial consumers higher than those established in a competitive environment, in particular, according to the results of electronic exchange trading on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange and on European hubs with the condition of gas delivery to the Ukrainian border (NCG).
“This may indicate the establishment by Naftogaz Ukrainy from November 1, 2018 of prices for natural gas for the population at a level that could not be established if there was significant competition in the natural gas markets,” the statement said.
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO (Nederladse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelinglanden N.V.) and Cyprus-based Abbeydrift Limited through a specially established company (SPV) can jointly with Cypriot Badoix Investments Ltd. indirectly gain control over Allseeds S.A. (Luxembourg), the holding company of Allseeds Group, a large Ukrainian producer and exporter of vegetable oils. According to the website of the AMC, it provided the relevant permit to FMO and Abbeydrift Limited.
Earlier mass media called Badoix Investments Ltd. one of the founders of Allseeds S.A.. At present, the ultimate beneficiary of the Luxembourg company in the state register are CEO of Allseeds Viacheslav Petrysche and Trade Director Cornelis Vrins (a citizen of Switzerland).
The Cypriot company Abbeydrift Limited was established in late 2014. There is no additional information about it.
The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO in mid-July this year disseminated information on preparing a project for the issuance of $15 million loan to Allseeds to increase the company’s capacity and achieve maximum efficiency without buying new equipment. However, now information about this project is not available on the FMO’s website.
Allseeds Group was founded in 2010. In July 2015, the group commissioned an oil extraction plant at Yuzhny port with a capacity of processing 2,400 tonnes of sunflower seeds per day (or 1,800 tonnes of rapeseeds, or 1,500 tonnes of soybeans).
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has permitted BAU-Capital LLC belonged to the owners of the Kovalska industrial and construction group to gain control over public joint-stock company Darnytsia Reinforced Concrete Constructions Plant and Beton Service LLC (all based in Kyiv).
The committee said that the regulator permitted the company to buy shares in PJSC Darnytsia Reinforced Concrete Constructions Plant and a stake in the charter capital of Beton Service LLC, granting over 50% of the votes in the management bodies of the two companies.
In January 2018, the committee started hearing a case regarding gaining control by BAU-Capital over the two above-mentioned companies. The case concerns the concentration of the Kovalska industrial and construction group on the concrete mixture market in Ukraine.
BAU-Capital currently has control over PJSC Svitlana Kovalska Reinforced-Concrete Constructions Plant (RCCP), Beton Complex and Avtobudcomplex-K LLC selling readymix concrete under the Concrete from Kovalska trademark.
The Kovalska industrial and construction group was founded in 2006.
