The first Odesa Investment Congress, dedicated to urban development, investment, and Ukraine’s recovery, took place on July 10 at the SPATIUM Hotel in Odesa and brought together over 300 developers, investors, architects, experts, and government officials.
According to the event organizers, the congress ran throughout the day simultaneously in two thematic halls—“Urban Development” and “Urban Design.”
Participants discussed the investment appeal of the Odesa region, prospects for new development projects, housing policy for reconstruction, the digitalization of the construction industry, the development of medical and rehabilitation facilities, the preservation of Odesa’s historical heritage, and the energy independence of real estate properties.
Among the keynote speakers and panelists were Natalia Kozlovska, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine; Ihor Reva, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation, and Digitalization; Oleksandr Novitsky, Head of the State Inspectorate of Architecture and Urban
Planning of Ukraine; and Yevhen Metzger, Chairman of the Board of PJSC “Ukrfinzhytlo.”
Also participating in the congress were Serhiy Lysak, Head of the Odesa City Military Administration, First Deputy Mayor of Odesa Oleksandr Filatov, Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration Nataliia Melnychuk, Chief Architect of Odesa Nadiia Novikova, CEO and Owner of SPATIUM Group Oleksandr Seleznyov, as well as representatives of development, architectural, investment, and hotel companies.
Representatives from SPATIUM Group, ZEZMAN Holding, KADORR, “Gefest,” “Two Academicians,” Akvareli, Ribas Hotels, RIEL, UDP, SAGA, Creator-Bud, Avalon, SIGMA+, and CREDO joined the discussions.
According to Alexander Seleznyov, CEO of SPATIUM Group, Odessa’s real estate development market is gradually recovering.
“We are already nearly back to pre-war levels. Old projects have been completed, and we are starting to build new ones,” he said during the congress.
Serhiy Lysak, Head of the Odesa City Military Administration, stated that the city is ready to collaborate with businesses and investors.
“Odesa is open to partnerships, constructive dialogue, and the implementation of joint projects aimed at developing our city,” Lysak emphasized.
Odessa’s Chief Architect, Nadiya Novikova, commenting on the city’s development in light of its status on the UNESCO World Heritage List, noted that changes must occur harmoniously.
“Our goal is for our city to develop—and to do so harmoniously. I don’t think this is anything to be afraid of. We will get to work,” Novikova said.
A separate segment of the program was dedicated to medical development, wellness infrastructure, and rehabilitation and inclusive spaces. The congress also featured a presentation by the Superhumans team in Odesa.
In the Urban Design hall, chief architects of Ukrainian cities and representatives of the professional community discussed modern approaches to urban planning, accessibility, the preservation of architectural heritage, and the development of public spaces.
The congress was held at the SPATIUM Hotel in Arcadia. According to the organizers, this is Odessa’s first five-star medical & wellness aparthotel that operates year-round.
The Odesa Investment Congress concluded with a gala evening, a concert program, and the presentation ceremony for the special Wassily Kandinsky Award.
The event was organized by the DMNTR media group, with SPATIUM Group serving as the general partner.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency served as the official media partner of the Odesa Investment Congress.
DEVELOPMENT, DMNTR, INVESTMENT, ODESA, Odesa Investment Congress, RECONSTRUCTION, SPATIUM Group
The Odesa Investment Congress has updated the program for the forum, which will take place on July 10, 2026, in Odesa at the SPATIUM Hotel and will run from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The final program for the congress includes two conference halls operating throughout the day—from the first panel discussion to the gala evening and concert program. The organizers note that there are only a few days left before the event begins, and seating is limited.
The program for July 10 includes a press conference on accessibility as a new urban philosophy, featuring government officials, as well as panel discussions on Odessa’s investment appeal, new investments in the regions, wellness as a new urban economy, and the development of medical, rehabilitation, and inclusive spaces.
Representatives from SPATIUM, ZEZMAN Holding, KADORR, “Gefest,” “Two Academicians,” Akvareli, Ribas Hotels, and other companies will join the discussion on Odessa’s investment appeal. A separate panel will be dedicated to new investments in the regions, featuring RIEL, UDP, SAGA, Creator-Bud, Avalon, SIGMA+, and CREDO.
One of the central segments will be a presentation by the SUPERHUMANS team in Odesa and a discussion on the development of medical, rehabilitation, and inclusive spaces. The program also includes a discussion on the topic “Odesa and UNESCO: Heritage Preservation vs. Modern Development.”
The URBAN DESIGN hall will host discussions featuring the chief architects of Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, and Rivne; a panel titled “Women Shaping Ukrainian Space”; workshops by the BOARD business community featuring Netpeak and Profiles; and an Evening Talk on premium-level sales.
The day will conclude with a gala evening, a concert program, and the presentation of the Vasyl Kandinsky Special Award.
A special program is also planned for congress guests on July 9 and 11, which will include private site visits, presentations, and a dinner.
Tickets for the Odesa Investment Congress are available on the website: ubc-ua.info/oic. VIP guests, speakers, and partners can contact us at: 077 777 25 47.
The Odesa Investment Congress is organized by the DMNTR media group. The general partner is SPATIUM Group.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency is the information partner of the Odesa Investment Congress.
The TAS Group has begun actively investing in real estate development and is carrying out major construction projects in Kyiv, according to the group’s founder, Serhiy Tihipko.
He said the group has begun construction of 220,000 square meters in Obolon and has purchased an additional 5 hectares for this project.
“In 2027, we will begin construction of 350,000 square meters on the Left Bank. This is a fairly large investment,” said Tigipko.
Thus, real estate development is becoming one of the group’s key investment areas, alongside the financial sector and agribusiness.
Such projects are important for Kyiv’s real estate market, as they can increase the supply of residential and commercial space in major districts of the capital. At the same time, real estate development remains a capital-intensive sector that is sensitive to demand, construction costs, the availability of financing, and changes in the population’s purchasing power.
The TAS Group was previously known primarily as a financial and industrial group; however, its active construction of large-scale projects demonstrates an expansion of its interests into real estate and urban development.
The TAS Group plans to invest $250–300 million in the authorized capital of banks, insurance companies, and other assets it holds in the financial sector, It also aims to expand its land bank and strengthen its grain storage operations in the agricultural sector, is actively investing in real estate development, and is exploring opportunities in logistics and port infrastructure, according to the group’s founder and head, Serhiy Tihipko.
“We are currently the largest private owner in the Ukrainian financial sector. And we are accelerating our pace here. Therefore, whether we want to or not, we will have to invest in authorized capital. “I think we’ll invest somewhere between $250 million and $300 million just to increase authorized capital,” said Tigipko at the Concorde Capital investment conference, which the investment firm held for the first time since 2019 last week in Kyiv.
“As for everything else, we’ll explore options. We’re interested in agriculture. We’d be happy to buy 20–25 thousand hectares right now. We’re expanding our grain storage facilities,” the founder added.
He noted that the group has now begun actively investing in real estate development.
“We’ve started a 220,000-square-meter project in Obolon. We’ve purchased an additional 5 hectares for the same project. In 2027, we’ll start a 350,000 (square meters) project on the Left Bank. These are fairly large investments,” the businessman clarified.
According to him, the group is also looking into logistics and port infrastructure, and Tigipko himself has personally visited Chornomorsk.
“I can say that I don’t really like the sector: in my opinion, it’s overvalued; everyone has gotten used to some kind of abnormal rate that existed at the start of the war. That won’t happen again,” the group’s owner noted.
He emphasized that the group constantly analyzes projects “every year, every day.”
“We’re sitting and waiting for a good, juicy deal to come along. We wanted to buy an insurance company (MetLife), but the Poles (PZU) beat us to it. That’s okay, we’ll wait. I told (Richard) Branson that deals are like a rail bus: one leaves, another will arrive. We’ll wait for the next one,” said Tihipko.
The TAS Group is one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine, operating in the banking sector, insurance, railcar manufacturing, metallurgy, logistics, the agricultural sector, the food industry, the production of packaging materials, and real estate. Among others, it includes TAScombank, Universal Bank (mono), and Idea Bank.
Oleg Zapletnyuk, CEO of the agricultural holding “TAS Agro,” reported earlier this year that the strategic plan calls for expanding the land bank from the current 80,000 hectares to 100,000 hectares by the end of 2026. “The next step is to increase it to 120,000 hectares, but that will be by 2028,” he said.
agricultural sector, DEVELOPMENT, financial sector, TAS, TIGIPKO
The United Arab Emirates has taken first place globally in terms of real estate market investment attractiveness, ahead of the United States and the United Kingdom, according to data from the Arada UAE Property Investment Index.
The study was conducted by the American Penta Group on behalf of the developer Arada from April 1 to 23, 2026. The survey included 689 investors from 12 key markets who have an annual income of over $100,000 and more than $250,000 in investment assets, and who have already invested or are interested in investing in real estate outside their home country.
According to the index, 56% of global investors expressed serious interest in the UAE real estate market. This is the highest figure among all markets included in the study. The U.S. received 54%, the UK 41%, France 28%, and Spain 27%.
Investor awareness of opportunities in the UAE real estate market reached 51%, which is comparable to the UK and close to the US. Arada notes that this confirms the UAE’s emergence as one of the most recognizable global centers for real estate investment.
Interest in the UAE is particularly high among investors from neighboring and rapidly growing markets. 91% of Indian investors, 92% of Egyptian investors, and 85% of Saudi respondents named the UAE as one of the three most attractive destinations for investment. Among European investors, the UAE has become the top overseas destination for the French (63%), Germans (60%), and Swiss (57%).
Investors cited the potential for high returns as the main factor driving the UAE’s appeal: 38% of respondents selected this criterion. For Australian investors, this figure reached 57%, for Spanish investors—56%, and for British investors—41%.
Security and stability were key factors for 65% of Chinese and 58% of German investors. Another 34% of all respondents cited the ease of purchasing and owning real estate as an important advantage; among investors from Saudi Arabia, this figure was 57%, and from Egypt, 41%.
Arada Group CEO Ahmed Al-Khoshaibi stated that the survey results confirm trends the company observes in its own sales: international investors increasingly note the maturity of regulations, economic stability, and the resilience of the UAE market even amid external challenges.
“The UAE has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to adapt faster than almost any other market in the world,” he noted.
The release of the index coincided with the announcement of major infrastructure investments in the UAE, including the 34-billion-dirham Dubai Metro Gold Line project, the launch of the first commercial air taxi network, and a 6-billion-dirham federal road corridor to improve connectivity between the emirates.
For the real estate market, this signals continued interest from international capital, despite signs of a cooling in certain segments following several years of rapid growth. Investors continue to view the UAE as a market offering a combination of returns, tax efficiency, stable regulation, and a relatively straightforward property ownership process.
Arada is a development company founded in 2017 in the UAE. The company carries out projects in real estate, retail, education, healthcare, fitness, wellness, and the hospitality sector. Arada’s project portfolio exceeds 130 billion dirhams; the company is also expanding its operations in the UK and Australia.
Kernel’s investments in community development over the past four years have reached UAH 1 billion. Recently, the “My Community: Together with Kernel” program has been growing rapidly under a co-financing model: for every hryvnia residents raise through crowdfunding, the company adds another 10 hryvnias, according to a Kernel press release on Wednesday.
“The results for 2026 demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach: communities raised nearly 1 million UAH, which is 46% more than last year. The project is scaling rapidly: while 196 applications were submitted from five regions in 2025, this year there have already been 411 applications from 12 regions of Ukraine,” the agricultural holding noted.
It clarified that over the two years of the “My Community: Together with Kernel” program, the company has funded 67 local initiatives with over 10 million UAH, and communities have raised an additional 1.3 million UAH on their own through the project’s partner, the “My City” crowdfunding platform.
This year, 34 projects were selected as winners, for which the company provided 4.5 million UAH in funding. Among the priorities are spaces for veterans, mental health support programs, accessible sports facilities, and educational projects. Over the next three months, the winners will implement their projects in their communities.
“We see a great demand for the development of our cities and villages even during the war, and our task is to provide local activists with the tools they need. The mechanics of crowdfunding help verify this: if residents are willing to support an idea with even a small contribution, it means the demand is real,” said Lilia Marachkanets, director of the “Together with Kernel” Charitable Foundation, in the press release.
According to her, the main idea is to teach community organizations, schools, municipal institutions, and activists to independently create projects and unite people around shared solutions. “Kernel” also trains local officials to work with international investments and European grants.
Kernel Agricultural Holding is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, Ukraine’s largest grain exporter, an operator of an extensive network of logistics assets, and a leading producer of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine. It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. It is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
In the first half of fiscal year 2026 (FY, July–December 2025), Kernel reduced its net profit by 33% compared to the same period last year—to $119 million. Consolidated revenue amounted to $1.924 billion, which is 1% less than in the first half of FY 2025, while EBITDA decreased by 14% to $247 million.
According to information on the website of the “Together with Kernel” Charitable Foundation, the foundation operates in 12 regions of Ukraine across 190 communities and implements more than 2,000 projects across eight areas.
