Myronivsky Hliboproduct agricultural holding (MHP), whose majority shareholder and chairman of the board is Yuriy Kosiuk, has confirmed information about financing the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine by five of its enterprises, but the foundation independently decided on spending these funds, in particular on payment for the services of the U.S. lobbying company BGR in 2017-2018 for the National Reforms Council, led by the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
“MHP companies really provided financial assistance to the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine. Financial assistance was provided to achieve the goal of the organization, namely to promote the development of Ukraine and the growth of well-being of its citizens by providing support in the development and implementation of reforms in Ukraine,” the press service of the holding told Interfax-Ukraine.
The agricultural holding said that MHP and its chairman did not used the funds provided to the Foundation for Support of Reforms to directly finance lobbying in the United States or other specific areas.
“The public organization independently determines the use of funds received from all founders and partners, taking into account the detailed directions of activity,” MHP noted.
According to the Kyiv Post edition, the administration of President Poroshenko through the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine paid for the services of American lobbyists at the expense of contributions made by Kosiuk, who at that time was a freelance adviser to the head of state, and it took $600,000 in 2017-2018. The matter concerns five agricultural firms: PrJSC Zernoproduct MHP, Vinnytsia Poultry Farm LLC, PrJSC Myronivska Poultry Farm, Research and Production Firm Urozhay LLC, and Urozhaina Kraina LLC. In addition to the money from Kosiuk, this public organization received grants of millions of dollars in support of reforms from embassies and Western donors, including American ones, Kyiv Post said.
LOBBYING, MYRONIVSKY HLIBOPRODUCT, POROSHENKO, REFORMS, SUPPORT FOUNDATION
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine opened a case against Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), Committee Head Yuriy Terentyev has written on his Facebook page.
“The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine launched an investigation into the actions of the MHP group (five poultry farms and Private Joint-Stock Company Myronivsky Hliboproduct belonging to Yuriy Kosyuk) in the chicken market on the grounds of abusing monopoly position. The committee established that MHP sets conditions for trade partners for certain areas of sales, obliges partners to adhere to the pricing policy of the MHP group and prohibits them from selling competitors’ products. That is, MHP practices a restrictive trade policy towards distributors, sub-distributors and partners,” Terentyev wrote.
According to him, the actions of MHP can lead to a violation of the chicken distribution market structure, a significant restriction of the rights of other market players to freely choose their partners, as well as imposing their own rules of conduct on the market players.
A project foreseeing the possible provision of EUR 100 million to Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP, Ukraine) agricultural company by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) requires review, EBRD Senior Advisor on External Affairs Anton Usov has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Some media reports that the EBRD allegedly rejected this project are not true. It was not even submitted to the board of directors for consideration,” he said on Thursday.
Usov said that the new date for its consideration by the bank’s directors will be announced additionally.
As reported, in January 2019, the EBRD said that in March 2019 its directors could consider the issue of providing EUR 100 million to MHP to acquire Slovenia’s Perutnina Ptuj.
In November 2018 MHP signed an agreement to acquire a 90.68% stake in Slovenia’s Perutnina Ptuj, a vertically integrated company in Southeastern Europe.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) plans to complete Phase 2 of the Vinnytsia poultry complex with a capacity of 260,000 tonnes by 2022.
According to an annual report of the company, MHP launched the first site of Phase 2 of the complex in 2018 with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes. The expansion of production would allow MHP to increase poultry production by 36%, to 840,000 tonnes from 618,000 tonnes.
According to the report, MHP also continues actively seeking opportunities for mergers and acquisitions of companies that produce or process poultry meat in the EU, the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the report, since 2018 the company is building the second and largest biogas complex with a capacity of 24 MW at the Vinnytsia poultry complex. The complex will reach its full capacity in two years. The launch of Phase 1 with a capacity of 12 MW is scheduled for the middle of 2019.
MHP also intends to increase the land bank to 500,000 hectares (by the end of 2018 it had 370,000 hectares) “over the medium term in order to further reduce the dependence on third-party suppliers of ingredients for fodder, and to provide additional hard currency revenues from grain export sales.”
According to the report, the capital investment of MHP in 2018 amounted to $232 million, mainly thanks to the launch of the production sites of Phase 2 of the Vinnytsia poultry complex. The planned volume of capital investments for 2018-2022 is $420 million.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct Agroholding (MHP) will borrow EUR120 million (UAH 3.79 billion) in a loan from ING Bank N.V., PrJSC Zernoproduct MHP reported.
The company will act as a guarantor for this loan, it said in an announcement of the information disclosure system of Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
PrJSC Zernoproduct MHP’s assets are estimated at UAH 6.103 billion, according to the latest financial statements. The ratio of loan value to asset value is 62%.
According to the MHP website, PJSC Zernoproduct MHP was established in 2004, it has 19 branches, two grain elevators, 23 dairy farms. Its land bank is 90,900 hectares.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) is ready to invest EUR 76 million in the partial restoration of Doux Group suffering economic difficulties, the press service of the agricultural holding has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the press service, at present the French chicken producer LDC and the Ukrainian agroholding MHP are simultaneously negotiating the purchase of the French food processing company Doux.
MHP said it had submitted a “mandatory offer for the partial restoration” of Doux. In particular, the holding proposes to invest EUR76 million in the construction of a new plant in Chateaulin (France) within two years and modernize other facilities.
In addition, MHP is ready to change the strategy, in particular, to abandon production of frozen products for exports, replacing them with fresh ones for the French market.
As reported, MHP on March 9, 2018 filed documents to the industry restructuring committee of France (Comité Interministériel de Restructuration Industrielle) for the restoration of Doux Group suffering economic difficulties. MHP estimates the amount of required investments to restore the group at EUR 150 million, while requiring that at least EUR70 million be compensated at the expense of state subsidies.
