The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine is to put eight distilleries worth UAH 250 million up for privatization within the next two months, according to Oleksiy Movchan (Servant of the People), deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada committee.
“In 2020, we passed a law in parliament to demonopolize the industry. Today, the state has eight distilleries left, and the State Property Fund must put them up for sale in the next two months. The value of the assets is about UAH 250 million, and the amount of debt is UAH 650 million. This means that the situation with the sale of this attractive asset is complicated, because the buyer will have to pay extra for its purchase,” he wrote on Facebook following a meeting in parliament with representatives of the State Property Fund, the Antimonopoly Committee, and the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
According to the MP, these facilities should work for the economy, not stand idle.
The privatization of distilleries in Ukraine is part of a reform aimed at demonopolizing the industry, combating the shadow market, and attracting investment.
Large-scale privatization of enterprises in the alcohol industry began in September-October 2020. At the time of the start of privatization, there were 78 state-owned enterprises in the alcohol production sector, of which 41 facilities of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt and 37 facilities of the Ukrspyrt concern were being prepared for privatization.
Currently, the State Property Fund is trying to sell the Zarubinsky Distillery at half the starting price—77.99 million hryvnia, the Borshchiv facility for the production and storage of alcohol (13.8 million hryvnia), and the Kholminsky Distillery (price not announced). In addition, the Uladivsky Distillery and the Korostyshiv Distillery are being prepared for sale.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has put up for auction Zarubinsky distillery (Ternopil region), which is the most expensive lot in the history of small-scale privatization – the starting price is UAH 245.4 million, the Fund reported on Facebook.
“This is an operating enterprise in the alcohol industry that produces not only ethyl alcohol but also bioethanol and even exports it,” the SPF explained.
According to the report, the distillery includes 58 real estate objects with a total area of 28,804 thousand square meters, including workshops, warehouses, industrial buildings, an administrative complex and other facilities. The privatization lot also includes 27 vehicles and special equipment.
According to the SPF, in 2022-2023, the company was profitable – UAH 1.1 million and UAH 1.6 million, respectively. In 2020-2021, it showed significant losses – UAH 72.7 million and UAH 14.2 million, respectively. As a result, Zarubinsky Distillery has accumulated significant accounts payable – UAH 374 million, of which UAH 4.4 million are debts to the budget and UAH 732 thousand to employees. These liabilities will be transferred to the future investor.
The auction is scheduled for October 2.
According to the Fund, distilleries are among the most popular small-scale privatization assets. Since September 2022, the SPF has sold 14 distilleries and raised UAH 965 million to the state budget, with the average price of each property at auction tripling.
T.B.Fruit group of companies, the largest fruit and berry processor in Ukraine, is considering the possibility of building its own factory for the production of industrial alcohol in Lviv region, founder of T.B.Fruit Taras Barschovsky has said.
“We are talking about industrial alcohol from wastewater that goes to wastewater treatment plants for production of pectin,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
Barschovsky specified that investment in the plant could be about $800,000.
T.B.Fruit is a vertically integrated international group of companies with a closed production cycle (growing raw materials, processing, transportation).
The total capacity of T.B.Fruit processing plants is 1.2 million tonnes of concentrated juice per year.
T.B.Fruit in 2019 occupied 10% of the world juice market. With the launch of a plant in Poland in August 2020, the figure could reach 12-14%.
