The volume of investments in real estate in Kyiv amounted to the equivalent of $33 million in January 2022, which is 35% less than in December 2021, but 25% higher than in January 2021, First Realty Group told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The level of capitalization was affected by the long New Year holidays. At the same time, we are seeing a trend of changing the portrait of the buyer – today the greatest demand is for objects in the medium and high price segments,” Olena Biberova, the CEO of Blagovist, said.
According to Blagovist, in January 2022, the segment up to $50,000 took a share of 9% of the total number of transactions. In this category, mainly one- and two-room apartments were purchased, most of all in Dniprovsky and Desniansky districts of the capital. Transactions with apartments accounted for the bulk of the share.
In the segment from $50,000 to $100,000, some 37% of operations in January were completed, mostly apartments in residential areas of Kyiv.
The price category from $100,000 to $250,000d became the most massive in January, it gave 41% of transactions. Here two- and three-room apartments in Solomiansky, Darnytsky, Pechersky districts of Kyiv prevail.
The price category from $250,000 in January was represented by 13% of the total volume of transactions.
Blagovist real estate agency, founded in 1993, is part of First Realty Group corporation. Currently, there are eight offices of the agency in Kyiv, with which about 500 professional real estate consultants cooperate.
The owner of the UFuture group, businessman Vasyl Khmelnitsky, has said that he and his family have no plans to leave Ukraine and go abroad, and expressed confidence that there will be no full-scale war and its threats are not justified.
“Me and my whole family (mother, wife, children and grandchildren) stay in Ukraine. We continue to live our usual lives and do not plan to go abroad. My whole team also remains in the country. We continue to work, create value and invest in Ukraine,” Khmelnytsky wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He said that he speaks exclusively as an entrepreneur, and his position is based on an understanding of many internal and external processes.
“But these are political processes, and I don’t want to discuss them publicly,” he said.
Khmelnytsky expressed the opinion that today, the most real threat that paralyzes all processes is panic.
“What can we do now to at least slightly stabilize the situation: 1. Continue to work effectively and live a familiar full life. 2. Maintain critical thinking, common sense and a cool head,” the businessman said.
“Whatever storms occur in the country and the world, I will leave my ship last,” he added.
A day earlier, a similar public post was posted by Andriy Stavnitser, co-owner of the TIS terminal group and the towing company P&O Maritime Ukraine, calling for “constructive calm activity.”
“We can’t let this crisis go to waste, it should make us stronger… I don’t believe in a full-fledged invasion, but I better be ready,” the businessman wrote.
UFuture is a holding company that brings together Khmelnytsky’s business and social projects. It has a diversified portfolio of assets in real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and IT. The value of UFuture’s assets is estimated at $500 million. The total capitalization of the businesses in which it has invested is up to $1 billion.
The Ukrainian real estate investment fund Focus Estate Fund has acquired the Turawa Park shopping center in Opole (Poland) from the international investment management group abrdn for an undisclosed amount, the fund’s general partner Maksym Shkolnik has said.
“This is our fourth asset in Poland, and we plan to continue scaling our portfolio in the Polish market, where we have been present for more than five years,” he said.
BNP Real Estate, which operates the shopping center, brokered the deal. B2R Law, CSWP, Dentons, CMS and Gleeds advised on this transaction.
Turawa Park is a multi-format shopping center with a total area of over 35,000 square meters, which has more than 60 stores. It includes a gallery with an area of 18,000 square meters, a retail park of 8,000 square meters, and the area of DIY stores – 9,000 square meters. The parking area is designed for 1,320 cars.
Turawa Park’s anchor tenants are such well-known brands as Carrefour, Reserved, Sinsay, Media Expert, Action, Smyk. Other tenants are Rossmann, Big Star, C&A, Pepco, Levis, Sephora, Deichmann.
According to the press service of the fund, at the time of the acquisition, the total vacancy rate was 29%.
“We see good prospects in the value-added retail segment in which we operate. Custom retail parks and neighborhood malls have proven to be some of the most resilient classes during the pandemic. As for the deal itself, it was rather complicated, and I would like to thank the abrdn team for their professional and balanced approach,” Shkolnik said.
The fund’s portfolio includes three more shopping centers in Poland in the cities of Sandomierz, Zgorzelec and Bartoszyce.
At the end of 2021, Focus Estate Fund sold two of its retail properties in the Czech Republic to the DRFG investment group: Centro Ostrava Retail Park and Most Retail Park.
Focus Estate Fund is a real estate investment fund focusing on non-premium medium-sized retail properties in Central and Eastern Europe.
PrJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2021 invested more than UAH 258 million in social initiatives in Kryvyi Rih and the region.
According to a press release on Friday, this is the company’s total contribution to large-scale projects in four areas – healthcare, education, cooperation with local communities, and the development of Kryvy Rih.
Summing up the results of 2021, CEO of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Mauro Longobardo said that the company has identified key areas for the implementation of social projects and the creation of a comfortable environment in Kryvy Rih, which is fully consistent with the development priorities of the city and local communities.
Investments in healthcare amounted to UAH 158 million, in the development of Kryvy Rih – UAH 70 million, in education – UAH 23.5 million, and in the development of local communities – UAH 7.1 million.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest manufacturer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular, rebar and wire rod.
Agricom Group in the second half of 2021 invested about $ 2 million in the development of a plant for the production of cereal flakes under the Dobrodiya brand, located in the village of Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske (Chernihiv region), the company also plans to launch three new lines of products next year.
The co-owner and executive director of the agricultural holding and the new president of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, Petro Melnyk, told about this in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
“In 2021, we adopted a new strategy, according to which we plan to invest about $ 20 million in the development of processing in Ukraine within five years. Over the past six months, we have invested about $ 2 million. Now the construction of a production warehouse is in full swing, this is an additional investment. I hope we will participate in the opening by spring or closer to summer,” he said.
In addition, the agricultural holding plans to start production of three new product lines in 2022 at the specified production site with an area of 6 hectares in Chernihiv region.
“Next year we plan to launch three new product lines. These are not cereals, these are other products, we will actively announce their appearance on the shelves. Six hectares of the production site, where we see the second and third lines of production in the future,” Melnyk emphasized.
In addition, the group of companies is considering the feasibility of launching production of fuel pellets in Zhytomyr region.
According to Melnyk, Agricom Group is implementing the relevant plans thanks to a successful season in terms of financial indicators and an increase in sales of products under the Dobrodiya trademark.
The agro-industrial group, founded in 2013, specializes in the development, production and distribution of cereal-based food products. The group of companies cultivates about 28,000 hectares in Luhansk, Chernihiv, Rivne and Zhytomyr regions.
Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky expects the growth of Israeli investments in the IT sector of Ukraine after the adoption of the law on Diia City. “I believe that after the adoption of the law on Diia City new investments may come to Ukraine. We are already talking about a deeper participation of Israeli capital, Israeli companies in the IT market in Ukraine, as there are prerequisites for this. Now, together with the entry into force of Diia City, a legislative and tax base is being created. Therefore, I think that this direction today is very promising,” he told Interfax-Ukraine in an exclusive interview.
According to him, services related to the IT sector may also be included in the updated free trade agreement (FTA), the preparation of which will start in 2022.
“The IT sector is one of the main sectors of cooperation between Israel and Ukraine in recent years, as over half of the outsourcing of the Israeli high-tech today falls on Ukraine,” he said.
The ambassador also said “in Ukraine, there are 30,000 or 40,000 programmers for Israeli companies.”
“In other words, imagine that each of these programmers earns on average $3,000 to $4,000 a month at least, or even much more. But even if we take the minimum wages, it turns out that multiply 30,000 or 40,000 by $3,000 is the Israeli contribution to the Ukrainian economy, the contribution of Israeli companies,” Brodsky said.
On the other hand, according to him, “this is a Ukrainian contribution to the economy of our country, since Israel is sorely lacking in programmers.”
“Israeli high-tech is the locomotive of our economy. Income to the state treasury from high-tech is one of the most serious components of the Israeli national budget today. Therefore, if there are people in Ukraine who can help Israeli companies to fulfill their task, then that is great. This brings our countries closer together, and this is an absolutely mutually beneficial situation,” Brodsky said.
According to him, this direction is one of the basic in Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation, along with agriculture, irrigation and medicine. Brodsky said the company Netafim, which develops projects and sales of Israeli technologies in drip irrigation.
“Representatives of several Israeli companies recently visited the regions, and we hope that there will be a continuation, as the topic is relevant for both countries. We feel interest from Ukraine, the president spoke about this when he met our president here,” he said.
