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 European Union proposes to ban real estate transactions in the territory of the union with citizens, residents and legal entities of the Russian Federation within the framework of new sanctions against Russia, Bloomberg reports with reference to a document on the planned sanctions.
“The proposal of the European Commission provides for the termination of real estate transactions with Russian citizens, residents and legal entities, prohibiting the sale or transfer, directly or indirectly, of “ownership rights in real estate located in the territory of the Union, or shares in collective investment enterprises providing access to such real estate,” the agency writes.
The proposed ban applies to Russians who are not EU citizens and do not have a residence permit in the union countries. The measure does not apply to those who have citizenship or a residence permit in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.
Bloomberg notes that the measure itself will come into force if the corresponding proposal is approved by EU member states this week.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that among other sanctions proposed by the European Commission are the disconnection of three Russian banks, including Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payment system, a ban on broadcasting in the EU of three major state-owned Russian television channels, as well as a ban on providing Russian companies of services of a number of European specialists. In addition, the EC is proposing a phase-out of Russian oil imports, which von der Leyen said should take six months and be completed by the end of 2022.
Moldovan state company Energocom has announced a series of tenders to buy natural gas with delivery from the border with Ukraine (Oleksiyivka) or Romania (Ungheni).
The gas purchases are being made for Moldova due to the “exceptional situation,” the company said on its website.
“Following the National Commission for Exceptional Situations of October 13, 2021, the state of alert was announced regarding the natural gas sector. Energocom, a company 100% owned by the State of Moldova, is preparing to purchase natural gas to be supplied at Moldovan border from Ukraine and/or Romania,” the company said.
Tenders will be held for various periods, to begin with short-term gas purchases of 5 million cubic meters and potentially more for the balance of October, Energocom said.
Gas suppliers must have “a proven record of reliable and professional activity (gas supply license in at least one EU/Energy Community country and >0.3 bcm of gas trading in 2020), the company said.
The first tender to purchase 1 mcm of gas was announced on October 23. Prepayment will be issued immediately, but SWIFT transfer to foreign entities can only be carried out on Monday, October 25, Energocom said.
“Considering the emergency situation, the Public Property Agency of Moldova, the sole shareholder of Energocom, will issue a comfort letter to the selected suppliers to confirm that payments will be duly made,” the company said.
The Energy Community Secretariat held a meeting with a delegation from Moldova to discuss problems with gas supplies to the country.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has allowed PrJSC Vodafone Ukraine to concentrate more than 50% of the telecom operator Vega (Farlep-Invest).
According to a statement released on the AMCU website, the committee made such a decision following the meeting on Thursday.
“The aggregate shares of concentration participants in the involved regional markets do not exceed 11%. In all commodity markets involved in the concentration, except for the voice traffic termination services market, there are a large number of business entities, they are competitors of the concentration participants and offer consumers similar services,” the AMCU said.
According to the AMCU, the seller within the planned concentration is SCM Group, which also includes PrJSC Ukrtelecom.
Both of these companies own a frequency resource in the 2.3 GHz range (15 MHz in six regions), as well as in the 2.5-2.7 GHz range.
Vodafone Ukraine is the second largest mobile operator in Ukraine.
The national telecom operator Vega is part of the telecommunications division of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group. The operator offers complex solutions in the field of fixed telephony, broadband Internet access and data transmission. The company is present in 22 regions of Ukraine.
Prometey Group has acquired an elevator (Zolochiv, Kharkiv region), designed for a one-time storage of 30,000 tonnes of grain, the asset will strengthen the position of the grain trader in Kharkiv region, which is profitable for agribusiness, the company’s website says. “Thanks to the Zolochiv elevator complex, we want to provide farmers with a new quality of services, including the services of Agromarket. Due to the new asset, Prometey Group plans to strengthen its position in Kharkiv region,” regional director of the elevator direction Dmytro Maksymenko said.
Prometey clarified that the Zolochiv elevator with a simultaneous storage capacity of 30,000 tonnes is certified for storage of grain and oilseeds. The complex has a grain-cleaning separator with a capacity of 100 tonnes/hour, and grain dryers with a capacity of 64 tonnes/hour.
The capacity of unloading grain by the elevator to railway transport is 400 tonnes/day, and the granary is also equipped with three truck unloaders. Weighing is carried out on scales with a carrying capacity of 60 tonnes and a platform length of 16 meters.
The company noted that the decision to expand the presence of Prometey at the expense of Kharkiv region is dictated by the high technical efficiency of agriculture in this region. The company referred to the studies of the Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) and the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club association according to which Kharkiv region is one of the “references” for agricultural activities, and the stable growth of acreage and production of agricultural products favorably influences the development of the elevator industry.
Prometey recalled the Agromarket program, operating on the basis of each elevator in the chain, and allowing the company’s client farmers to purchase the necessary agricultural goods in one place, including on the security of the future harvest.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to gradually abolish the requirement for legal entities and individuals-entrepreneurs to purchase foreign currency only against obligations, in particular, from July 20, it will allow businesses to buy foreign currency within EUR 100,000 (in equivalent) per day without the presence of grounds and obligations and the submission of supporting documents to the bank.
According to the NBU press service on Thursday, the relevant changes were approved by regulator’s board decision No. 80 dated July 13.
“We have decided to cancel this requirement gradually. This will allow us to assess the impact of each such step on liberalization on the state of the market,” the NBU press service said, citing Deputy Governor of the NBU Yuriy Heletiy said.
According to the National Bank, the current easing will not have a significant impact on the functioning of the Ukrainian foreign exchange market, but it will expand the business opportunities for risk and liquidity management.
It is indicated that the next steps towards the complete removal of the requirement for the purchase of foreign exchange against obligations will be carried out after analyzing the situation in the domestic and foreign markets, the state of financial stability, and also subject to a favorable situation in the foreign exchange market.
