The CRH Group, the largest manufacturer of building materials in North America and Europe, has invested $80 million in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.
According to Guillaume Cavalier, President of CRH in Central and Eastern Europe, in an interview with Forbes Ukraine, the group’s total investments in Ukraine over 25 years of operation amount to more than $500 million.
According to him, it is important to use locally produced cement in the context of infrastructure reconstruction in Ukraine, which will provide jobs and higher revenues to the state budget.
Cavalier emphasized that for the potential growth of the Ukrainian cement market after joining the EU, it is important to invest in the expansion of production now. He reminded that the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) is currently considering CRH’s application to acquire the assets of Italian Buzzi in Ukraine – Volyn-Cement (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and Yugcement (Olshanske, Mykolaiv region).
As reported, on January 23, the AMCU announced the commencement of consideration of the case on concerted actions in the form of implementation of non-competition provisions enshrined in the concentration agreement between the Irish CRH group and Dyckerhoff GmbH, which own assets in Ukraine.
In June 2023, the Italian cement producer Buzzi, listed by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as an international war sponsor, through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, reached an agreement to sell part of its Eastern European business to the Irish CRH Group, including its Ukrainian assets in the form of two cement plants. The deal is expected to close in 2024.
Later, in September 2023, the AMC returned CRH’s merger filing without consideration due to non-compliance with the requirements, and noted that the group holds about a third of the Ukrainian cement market. In October of the same year, the agency resumed consideration of the case.
CRH has been operating in Ukraine since 1999. Since November 2021, its cement enterprises in Ukraine have been operating under the Cemark brand: Podilskyi Cement JSC (Khmelnytskyi region), Cement LLC (Odesa), and Mykolaivcement PrJSC (Lviv region).
CRH’s separate business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. PoliBeton Energo’s Bila Tserkva concrete goods plant is a specialized enterprise that produces power transmission towers. PoliBeton’s concrete hub in the north of Odesa joined CRH in 2020.
CRH is the world’s leading manufacturer of building materials. The company employs around 71,000 people at its 3,200 sites in 28 countries. It is the largest manufacturer of building materials in North America and Europe. The company is also represented in Asia. CRH American depositary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Univest, a manufacturer of paper and cardboard packaging for the food industry, has invested about UAH 300 million in the construction of a new eco-packaging workshop in the Fastindustri industrial park (Fastiv, Kyiv region), said Dmytro Kysylevskyi, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic development.
According to his post on Facebook, the equipment that has already been installed is planned to be put into operation in a few months.
Kysylevsky said that the equipment for industrial production in the industrial park was first imported to Ukraine with the use of import duty and VAT incentives.
“Ukrainian entrepreneur Volodymyr Kudryashov, owner and CEO of Univest, pioneered the use of government incentives. He had to work with customs to figure out how to do everything, because it was the first time both the company and the state did it,” he wrote.
As reported, the law provides for exemption from VAT and customs duties on imports of new equipment, as well as from income tax for 10 years if the company operates within the framework of the IP; preferential rates of real estate tax and land fees from local authorities.
Univest Holding, according to its website, is one of the leaders in publishing and printing in Ukraine. Its key business areas include a large offset printing house, Univest Print, a cardboard, plastic and blister packaging manufacturer, Univest Packaging, a cardboard eco-tableware manufacturer for fast food chains, Food-in-Box, and a publishing house (producing agricultural magazines and books), Univest Media.
The holding also includes a warehouse complex with an area of 20 thousand square meters, a creative and advertising agency.
According to the Clarity system, packaging manufacturer Univest Marketing LLC increased its net profit by 5.3 times in January-September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, to UAH 77 million, with net income growing by 58% to UAH 548.9 million.
The company’s product range includes paper cups, lids, burger boxes, soup bowls, salad bowls, trays, French fries packaging, and ice cream and popcorn buckets.
According to YouControl, the company is owned by Cyprus-registered U.C.H. Univest Ciprus Holding, and the ultimate beneficiaries are Volodymyr Kudryashov (51%) and German citizens Hans and Louis Riffart (12.74% each).
The 15-hectare Fastindustri was included in the Register of Industrial Parks in January 2017. According to Kysylevsky, Univest is the main investor in the IP.
The park is planned to accommodate several more enterprises based on the circular economy principle, and the investment plans for the IP are calculated until 2027.
AXOR Industry in 2022 invested $10 million to expand the production of fittings for windows and doors in Ukraine, the total investment in the enterprise reached $35 million, the company’s press service told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“We continued to invest both in the development of new products and in new equipment and new production workshops. In 2022, two workshops for painting aluminum elements of fittings for windows and doors started working,” said AXOR Industry CEO Yilmaz Osman, whose words are cited in the press release.
He added that $10 million was invested in the expansion of production and a total of $35 million has been invested since 2011.
It is also noted that AXOR Industry is the only enterprise producing fittings for windows and doors in Ukraine. Its production facilities are located in Dnipropetrovsk. The company has not stopped its work since the beginning of the war.
Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian occupation troops into Ukraine AXOR hardware was supplied to 26 countries. Since February 24, deliveries to Russia and Belarus have been stopped. The company lost a significant amount of sales, but in spite of this it has kept jobs for Ukrainians (there are now 365).
“Only by providing jobs and developing international relations can we win the war and further ensure the development of both the production itself and the country. This is why in 2023 we aim to increase the presence of AXOR hardware in the international market and develop new lines of fittings and accessories for windows and doors,” said Osman.
According to the general director, from the first days of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the company began to help its employees who enlisted in the AFU and displaced persons. Also provides for the families of deceased employees.
According to the State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the authorized capital of AXOR Industry is 135.38 million UAH. The founders are Funama Holdings Limited (Cyprus), AMC Altus Assets Activitis and Basera Holding Limited (Malta). Vadim Yermolaev is indicated as the ultimate beneficiary.
The largest Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar has invested UAH 200 million in upgrading the Internet network to a speed of 1 Gbit / s and now it is available with such parameters in seven cities of Ukraine – Kyiv, Dnipro, Lvov, Starokonstantinov, Vladimir, Truskavets and Slavuta.
“In total, this year it is planned to cover 10 more cities with a gigabit network,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
According to him, over the past six months, Kyivstar has also expanded the Home Internet service to 355 new houses with more than 44,000 apartments.
This service has also become available in Dubno (Rivne region), and by the end of the year it will appear in five more cities, the release notes.
The company noted that the network damaged as a result of hostilities has already been completely repaired in the de-occupied territories in Chernihiv, Nizhyn, Irpen, Akhtyrka and in the cities that are under shelling – Krivoy Rog, Zelenodolsk. In addition, 99% of the network in Nikolaev, 94% in Kharkov and 81% in Nikopol are maintained in working order.
In addition, as part of social initiatives, the Internet was connected in 1279 bomb shelters and shelters, as well as in 442 modular houses for internally displaced persons.
The company plans to connect 6 more modular towns by the end of the year, as well as connect WI-FI in dozens of shelters in schools.
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. Provides communication and data transmission services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 3G. As of the middle of this year, its services were used by about 24.8 million mobile subscribers and more than 1 million fixed Internet customers.
Kyivstar’s shareholder is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) stock exchange.
Since the beginning, Datagroup-Volia has invested UAH 500 million in the purchase and installation of new equipment, the opening of a new data processing center (DPC) and other areas of the company’s development, its CEO Mikhail Shelemba said at a press conference on Wednesday .
“We launched a new data center on 300 sq. m. We launched it both for our customers and for the needs of the company’s modernization. There is a lot of new equipment that was placed in this center,” Shelemba said.
According to him, the center has a total area of 300 square meters, 103 telecommunication cabinets, 4,326 RU (resource units), two power inputs of 1 MW each and three standby diesel power plants of 800 kW, as well as a system of modular uninterruptible power supplies.
In addition to the new data center, Datagroup-Volia invested in the installation of more than 200 units of new equipment, laying 34 thousand km of fiber-optic network, and also opened its own international crossings to Poland, Germany and Slovakia, increasing the network throughput up to 4 Tbps and the capacity of backup links by 10 times.
Separately, Shelemba noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the company has joined initiatives to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the population, in particular, connected 60 schools and humanitarian centers to free Internet, 440 bomb shelters in 18 regions of the country, and also committed to provide for 50 orphans war before they come of age.
In June 2021, Datagroup, a provider of fiber-optic infrastructure and digital services, completed the signing of an agreement to acquire 100% of the Ukrainian provider of pay TV and cable high-speed Internet access services of the Volia group of companies, and now they are developing as a consolidated asset.
Some UAH 100 million has been invested in the reconstruction of the Central Bus Station, Maksym Skliarenko, the director of Ukrpas, said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, a food court, a shopping area, a pharmacy will be located on the first floor of the renovated Central Bus Station, and a food court, cash desks and a waiting area for passengers on the second floor.
“All tenants will go out for repairs after the completion of the reconstruction of the station itself. On the third floor there is already a hotel with three categories of rooms – from a hostel with a place for UAH 450 to superior rooms for UAH 1,500 per day,” Skliarenko said.
As reported, the State Property Fund of Ukraine in the spring of 2020 sold at an auction a state package in the amount of 99.9% of the charter capital of Kyivpasservice. The starting price of the lot was UAH 195.9 million. The winner of the auction was Bastion Group LLC with an offer of UAH 230.89 million.
Kyivpasservice includes the Central Bus Station, the bus stations Podil, Darnytsia, Polissia, Pivdenna, Dachna in Kyiv, as well as 18 bus stations in Kyiv region.
The condition for the privatization of Kyivpasservice is that the investor retains the activities of bus stations in Kyiv for at least five years, in Kyiv region – for at least 15 years.
