Italian Intesa Sanpaolo Group, one of the leading banking groups in Europe, has decided to increase the capital of its 100% Ukrainian subsidiary PRAVEX Bank by UAH 1.1 billion at the expense of additional shareholder contributions after the National Bank of Ukraine announced the need to recapitalize the bank earlier this year.
“The capital increase is an additional support to ensure financial stability and increase the capital level of PRAVEX Bank. The strategic decision of the shareholder will have a significant positive impact on PRAVEX Bank’s capital ratios, maintaining liquidity, financial stability and reliability of the institution for all stakeholders,” PRAVEX Bank said on Monday.
The recapitalization will also strengthen the ability to withstand the risks faced by PRAVEX Bank and its customers in the event of a full-scale invasion, the financial institution added.
It is specified that Intesa made this decision on March 28.
The bank recalled that Intesa Sanpaolo Group has always provided full support to its Ukrainian subsidiary, which was demonstrated in various crisis periods in previous years, starting in 2008.
Pravex-Bank was founded in 1992. Its sole shareholder since June 2008 is Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (Italy).
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of February 1, 2024, PRAVEX-Bank ranked 27th among 63 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets (UAH 10.96 billion). Its authorized capital amounted to UAH 979.09 million, and its equity capital was UAH 1 billion 14.87 million.
Last year, the bank’s net loss decreased to UAH 92.9 million from UAH 415.2 million a year earlier. Last year, PRAVEX Bank’s assets increased from UAH 10.55 billion to UAH 11.23 billion, while its reserves decreased from UAH 0.34 billion to UAH 0.27 billion.
In early January of this year, the NBU announced the need to recapitalize state-owned Ukreximbank, Pravex Bank and MTB Bank by a total of UAH 10 billion based on the results of an assessment of their sustainability for the next three years under the baseline macroeconomic scenario.
According to the data provided by the NBU, after assessing the quality of assets and the acceptability of collateral for credit transactions, taking into account adjustments, the regulatory capital adequacy (N2) of Ukreximbank was 5.93% as of April 1, 2023, with a minimum of 10%, and core capital (N3) was 2.98% with a minimum of 7%. For MTB, these figures were 7.71% and 6%, respectively, and for PRAVEX Bank – 15.61% and 14.39%.
At the same time, according to the NBU, PRAVEX Bank’s capital would have become negative from the second year under the baseline macro scenario, and in the third year its adequacy ratios would have fallen to minus 16.51%. In the case of MTB, the capital would have gone into a slight negative in the first year, and in the third year, its adequacy ratios would have deteriorated to minus 4.15%.
For Ukreximbank, the ratios would have fallen from minus 3.67% to minus 8.04% over three years.
Of the 3.5 million inhabitants of Kyiv, two-thirds have already returned to the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
“Before the war, 3.5 million Kyivans were in our city… Almost two-thirds of Kyivans have already returned,” Klitschko said on the air of the National Telethon on Tuesday.
The mayor noted that there are still many restrictions in Kyiv due to the martial law: there is a curfew, there are still a large number of checkpoints, there is still a possibility of shelling the capital, and in the forest zone of the suburbs all territories have not yet been cleared of mines, there are many explosive objects, and therefore visiting green areas is prohibited. .
“That is, there are many restrictions. And if these restrictions do not scare you, then you can really return,” Klitschko said.
He stressed that he could not forbid the people of Kiev to return to the capital, but could only recommend.
“If you have the opportunity to be in more protected places, where there is no risk to your life and health, please stay. But if possible, we will not mind returning to our homes today,” the mayor said.
Ukraine and Poland are planning to launch high-speed trains between the capitals.
“Recently I’ve been to Poland, talked with my counterpart in the Polish government. They support our idea, they are interested in it. They have also figured out that high-speed trains of 300 km+ are super-expensive and definitely not about economy. But as for 250 km+, we completely coincide with them in technical requirements, and now our teams are already starting to work. That is, we have agreements that our Italian company, which is developing a feasibility study, will work with the two railways,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov said during the Big Construction: New Railway forum in Kyiv.
He also stressed that a preliminary understanding of the cost of the project and its roadmap is expected by the end of the year or in January 2022.
For this project, according to Kubrakov, a preliminary feasibility study is already being developed.
The median price of apartments in the secondary market of Kyiv was $1,308 per square meter in July 2021, which is 13.7% higher than in the same period in 2020, the press service of the address.ua portal has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“In the secondary residential real estate market, a stable but moderate trend towards price increases remains – the median price increased by 1% in July 2021 compared to June 2021 and by 13.7% compared to July 2020,” City Development Solutions Director Roman Herasymchuk said.
At the same time, according to him, the median price of one-room apartments presented in the database of the address.ua portal increased to $1,400 per square meter (by 1.2% per month and by 17.7% per year), two-room apartments – to $1,301 per square meter (0.6% and 18.8%), three-room apartments – to $1,181 per square meter (less than 1% compared to June and an increase of 7.7% per year).
“The continuing rise in prices is due to objective long-term factors such as stable demand, good indicators of profitability of investments in real estate and a systematic rise in the cost of construction, allows the secondary market to compete with the primary market, the volume of finished housing on which is not sufficient to meet the needs of the population in square meters,” Herasymchuk said.
According to him, in July, apartments in the price range of up to $30,000 were in high demand – 33% of requests to the database of the address.ua portal. The interest for housing in the range from $50,000 to $70,000 was in 29% of inquiries, from $30,000 to $50,000 in 21%, and over $70,000 in 17%.
Some 42% of inquiries to the database of the address.ua portal concerned one-room apartments, 37% of portal users were looking for two-room apartments, and 19% for three-room apartments.
At the same time, the greatest demand (38%) was for the category of apartments with an area of 50-80 square meters, 37% of requests were for apartments with an area of 35-50 square meters, 20% were interested in apartments up to 35 square meters. Housing over 80 square meters were interesting only for 5%.
“In the coming months, we can expect an increase in market segmentation – the main demand is for new housing built in the 2010s, which increases the discrepancy in prices between the old and new housing stock,” Herasymchuk said.
According to the expert, the main factor holding back the price growth is the pool of less liquid apartments in the old housing stock, which accounts for more than half of the current supply.
Herasymchuk predicts that the trend towards price increases in the coming months will continue.
The results of the study of the secondary real estate market in Kyiv for July 2021 are based on the analysis of ads posted on the real estate search portal address.ua, as well as user activity (479,519 visits in July 2021).
The state-owned enterprise Artyomsol in 2020 reduced salt production by 41%, to 1.18 million tonnes, which is associated with weather conditions, quarantine and increased competition in world markets, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to it, Artyomsol produced 762,200 tonnes of ground salt used for sprinkling roads without packaging, which is half as much as in 2019, and this is associated with a warm winter in Ukraine and far abroad. According to the state-owned enterprise, the production of packaged salt increased by 3.6%, to 186,400 tonnes, whiles the production of iodized salt decreased by 6.6%, to 53,200 tonnes.
Salt packed in bags (10 kg, 20 kg and 50 kg) was produced in 2020 by 27.6% less only 147,600 tonnes, production of salt packed in flexible intermediate bulk containers reduced by one third, to 51,000 tonnes.
The output of salt briquettes over the year, according to a press release, decreased by 6.7% , to 11,200 tonnes, while salt blocks increased by 17%, to 3,400 tonnes.
The state-owned enterprise indicated that in 2020 the enterprise shipped its products to 15 countries of the world. The main importers of its products are Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Belarus. More than 70% of the products were sent to the Ukrainian market.
According to the enterprise, at the end of 2020, there was a tendency to increase production volumes of the entire range.
“We have started a program of ‘rehabilitation’ of the enterprise, which includes a set of rapid measures to improve production efficiency and social support for workers. In 2021, we plan to increase investments in renovation and modernization of production to UAH 250 million, while in 2020 the volume of capital investments amounted to UAH 66 million,” Acting Director of Artyomsol Victoria Lutsenko said.
Artyomsol is one of the largest enterprises for the extraction and sale of sodium chloride (NaCl) in Central and Eastern Europe. The production facilities of Artyomsol are located in Soledar, Donetsk region.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko expects that the Verkhovna Rada will soon adopt the law on the capital at the second reading.
“I took part in local elections. I voted at my polling station in Kyiv. I hope that local communities will receive worthy representatives in the government,” Tkachenko wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
The minister also complained that the Verkhovna Rada did not have time to vote for the law on the capital at the second reading.
In his opinion, this law would radically change the opportunities, in particular, for the people of Kyiv to participate in the city’s self-government, as well as restore the district and local councils and allow the community to receive much more powers, including control over the activities of the authorities.
“However, I think that the parliament will be able to return to this issue in the near future,” Tkachenko added.
