The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the state-owned Ukrgasbank and Sens Bank, and N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited—a member of the Rothschild & Co. group—have signed tripartite agreements for financial advisory services to prepare for the sale of the state’s stake in the two banks.
“Rothschild & Co was selected following a competitive bidding process. Rothschild & Co will provide services as part of a consortium with FinPoint, a Ukrainian investment banking firm,” according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance posted on its website on Friday.
According to the press release, the advisor will provide comprehensive financial consulting services, including: coordinating due diligence on the banks’ operations—in part to determine the initial sale price—preparing information about the banks for potential investors, attracting investors, and facilitating the organization of a competitive bidding process for the sale of their shares.
“Engaging an international financial advisor is an important step in implementing the strategy to reduce the state’s stake in the banking sector. Our task is to ensure a transparent, competitive process for the sale of state-owned stakes in Ukrgasbank and Sens Bank, attract strategic investors, and create conditions for the further development of these institutions,” the press release quotes Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko as saying.
The banks will provide updates on the next steps in preparing for privatization on their official websites, the press release also states.
As previously reported, on October 1, 2025, the government issued a directive on preparing for the sale of state-owned stakes in Sens Bank and Ukrgasbank; on October 29, the procedure for engaging an advisor was approved, and on March 31, 2026, a competition was announced to select the advisor. The advisor’s compensation will consist of a fixed portion and a success fee of up to 3% of the actual proceeds to the state budget from the sale of the stakes. The government also established a commission for the sale of state-owned stakes in banks.
N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited is a company within the Rothschild & Co. group, registered in England and Wales, with its headquarters in London. It specializes in financial advisory services, corporate finance, and support for mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Previously, the Rothschild & Co. group advised Ukraine on the restructuring of its sovereign debt; it was also hired by Ukrzaliznytsia this year to restructure its Eurobonds.
As part of its programs with the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine has repeatedly committed to engaging an advisor for the privatization of Sens Bank and Ukrgasbank; the initial deadline was set for the end of September 2024, and the latest deadline—under the new program—is the end of July of this year.
According to data from the National Bank, as of July 1, 2026, Ukrgasbank, with total assets of 228.74 billion hryvnia, ranked seventh, while Sens Bank, with 157.73 billion hryvnia, ranked ninth among Ukraine’s 59 banks.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE, PRIVATIZATION, ROTHSCHILD, UKRGASBANK, СЕНС БАНК
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the state-owned Ukrgasbank and Sens Bank, and N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited, a member of the Rothschild & Co. group, have signed tripartite agreements for the provision of financial advisory services in preparation for the sale of the state’s stake in the two banks.
“Rothschild & Co was selected following a competitive bidding process. Rothschild & Co will provide services as part of a consortium with FinPoint, a Ukrainian investment banking firm,” according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance posted on its website on Friday.
According to the release, the advisor will provide comprehensive financial consulting services, including: coordinating due diligence on the banks’ operations—in part to determine the initial sale price—preparing information about the banks for potential investors, attracting investors, and facilitating the organization of a competitive bidding process for the sale of their shares.
“Engaging an international financial advisor is an important step in implementing the strategy to reduce the state’s stake in the banking sector. Our task is to ensure a transparent, competitive process for the sale of state-owned stakes in Ukrgasbank and Sens Bank, attract strategic investors, and create conditions for the further development of these institutions,” the press release quotes Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko as saying.
The banks will provide updates on the next steps in preparing for privatization on their official websites, the press release also states.
As previously reported, on October 1, 2025, the government issued a directive on preparing for the sale of state-owned stakes in Sens Bank and Ukrgasbank; on October 29, the procedure for engaging an advisor was approved, and on March 31, 2026, a competition was announced to select the advisor. The advisor’s compensation will consist of a fixed portion and a success fee of up to 3% of the actual proceeds to the state budget from the sale of the stakes. The government also established a commission for the sale of state-owned stakes in banks.
N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited is a company within the Rothschild & Co. group, registered in England and Wales, with its headquarters in London. It specializes in financial advisory services, corporate finance, and support for mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Previously, the Rothschild & Co. group advised Ukraine on the restructuring of its sovereign debt; it was also hired by Ukrzaliznytsia this year to restructure its Eurobonds.
As part of its programs with the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine has repeatedly committed to engaging an advisor for the privatization of Sens Bank and Ukrgasbank; the initial deadline was set for the end of September 2024, and the latest deadline—under the new program—is the end of July of this year.
According to data from the National Bank, as of July 1, 2026, Ukrgazbank, with total assets of 228.74 billion UAH, ranked seventh, while Sens Bank, with 157.73 billion UAH, ranked ninth among Ukraine’s 59 banks.
According to the Serbian business media outlet Parametar, Serbia has put up for sale, through the Belgrade Stock Exchange, a 6.35% stake in Termovent SC Livnica čelika, based in Bačka Topola.
The company specializes in the production of steel castings, including those made of carbon, stainless, heat-resistant, and wear-resistant steel. The foundry has been in operation since the 1960s and has been part of Termovent SC since 2003.
The company supplies its products to both domestic and international markets. The Termovent Group also manufactures industrial valves and is a certified supplier to the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary.
According to data for 2025, the foundry’s revenue exceeded 1 billion dinars, net profit amounted to approximately 7.8 million dinars, and the number of employees was 168.
The sale of the state’s stake effectively continues the consolidation of ownership in this already privatized industrial asset.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has announced the privatization of the state-owned enterprise “Drohobych Salt Plant” for the second time, according to a Facebook post by the company’s director, Oleg Petrenko.
“The State Property Fund is announcing the privatization of our enterprise for the second time. As the head of the enterprise, I support privatization—it can bring new investments and growth to the enterprise. The main thing is that this process be conducted consistently and transparently, without backroom deals or haste that could be manipulated to serve someone’s interests,” he noted.
The company’s director noted that the Drohobych Salt Works is a profitable enterprise that has been operating for over 600 years, preserving the traditional method of salt boiling, and is one of the few such facilities in Europe.
“Drohobych salt has a future. And we believe that we can build that future without losing what we have already achieved,” Petrenko concluded.
The state-owned enterprise “Drohobych Saltworks” has been in operation since the 14th century and is one of the oldest continuously operating salt production facilities in Europe. The enterprise extracts natural brine and produces table salt using traditional technology. In 2024, the plant produced and sold 678.3 metric tons of salt.
According to Opendatabot, in 2025, the revenue of the Drohobych Salt Works State Enterprise grew by 40.3%—to 34.4 million UAH—and its net profit increased by 33.8%, to 849,200 UAH.
Drohobych, INVESTMENT, PRIVATIZATION, saltworks, STATE PROPERTY FUND
PJSC “United Mining and Chemical Company” (UMCC, UMCC Titanium) increased its net loss 2.5-fold in January–June of this year compared to the same period last year—to 745.401 million UAH from 295.030 million UAH.
According to the company’s interim report, which is available to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine,” revenue from ordinary operations for this period rose by 34.8%, to 1,117.088 million UAH.
The accumulated loss as of the end of June stood at 3,515.530 million UAH.
As previously reported, OGHK doubled its net loss in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year—to 411.235 million UAH from 203.236 million UAH. Revenue from ordinary operations for this period rose to 331.342 million UAH from 239.604 million UAH in the first quarter of 2025.
In 2025, the company reported a net loss of 2 billion 118.156 million UAH, whereas in 2024 it posted a profit of 17.009 million UAH, with revenue from ordinary operations amounting to 1,510.751 million UAH (in 2024 – 2,851.180 million UAH).
In 2025, the total number of employees at OGHK was 4,443, including 3,031 at VGMK and 1,194 at IGZK.
“Cement Ukraine” LLC, controlled by NEQSOL Holding, acquired OGHK at an auction on October 9, 2024, for 3 billion 938 million 351.58 UAH. On November 19, 2024, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (FGIU) and Cement Ukraine LLC entered into Agreement No. 217 for the sale and purchase of a 100% stake in OGHK. On May 29, 2025, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted approval for the concentration. On June 10, 2025, “Cemin Ukraine” LLC became the owner of 100% of the company’s shares. “Cemin Ukraine” LLC is part of the international NEQSOL group of companies, with the ultimate parent company NEQSOL Holding B.V. (Netherlands), owned by Azerbaijani citizen Nasib Hasanov.
OGHK has two subsidiaries—the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGZK, Zhytomyr Oblast). OGHK’s main activities include open-pit mining of titanium ores, as well as the production and wholesale trade of titanium ore concentrates (zircon, ilmenite, rutile, disten-sillimanite, staurolite, and quartz sand).
According to data from the National State Treasury for the first quarter of 2026, “Cemin Ukraine” LLC owns 100% of OGHK’s shares.
The authorized capital of OGHK PJSC is 1.994 billion UAH, and the par value of a share is 1 UAH.
A 99.9952% state-owned stake in one of Ukraine’s largest chemical companies, Sumykhimprom JSC, will be put up for an electronic auction on the “Prozorro.Sales” trading platform on October 13, 2026.
This decision was made by the auction commission chaired by Vitaliy Kovalenko, deputy head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, the Fund announced on Facebook.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) noted that on July 8 of this year, the government approved the terms and the starting price for the sale of this stake at 1.005 billion UAH.
As previously reported, the repeat online auction for the privatization of “Sumykhimprom,” scheduled for January 13, 2026, with a price reduced by 9.3% to 1 billion 88.081 million UAH (excluding VAT), did not take place due to a lack of participants, just like the previous auction on June 11, 2025.
“Sumykhimprom represents a unique opportunity to acquire nearly 100% of the shares in an operating, high-capacity chemical complex with a wide range of products and significant production facilities for further modernization and development of export potential,” emphasized the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU).
According to the terms of the tender, the new owner was required to maintain the company’s core business activities and invest at least 150 million hryvnias in technical re-equipment and production modernization. In addition, the winner must settle wage arrears and budget debts within six months, as well as overdue accounts payable—excluding debts owed to individuals and legal entities subject to sanctions and their associated parties, as well as creditors whose beneficiaries are citizens or residents of the Russian Federation and/or Belarus. The buyer must comply with social guarantees for employees in accordance with labor law requirements and prevent their dismissal for six months following the acquisition of the asset.
“Sumykhimprom” is one of the largest domestic enterprises producing compound mineral fertilizers, titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid, and other inorganic chemicals. The enterprise is among the top three revenue-generating enterprises in Sumy and the region. It produces more than 30 brands of NPK fertilizers with varying nutrient ratios for different soil and climatic zones.
For over 10 years, the plant was managed by a group of companies affiliated with Group DF, owned by businessman Dmytro Firtash. In November 2023, the Commercial Court of Sumy Oblast granted the motion filed by the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) and the Ministry of Justice and closed the proceedings in the bankruptcy and reorganization case of “Sumykhimprom.”
The SPFU had planned to sell the company to a private investor even before the full-scale war began. However, privatization was delayed due to the stance of minority shareholder Firtash, who in 2010 acquired 0.005% of the company’s shares and gained control over its management. “Sumykhimprom” accumulated debt, which led to the formation of a creditors’ committee and the initiation of a reorganization procedure.
Since 2015, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) had been trying through the courts to halt the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, but was only able to do so in 2023, which cleared the way for privatization.
In March 2022, Russian forces shelled the plant, causing an ammonia leak. As a result, the plant was shut down for a year and resumed operations in the spring of 2023. As of June 2025, the front line was less than 30 km from “Sumykhimprom.”
According to the 2025 report, the company’s accounts payable at the end of the year amounted to 4.135 billion UAH, of which 1.292 billion UAH was debt related to the bankruptcy case initiated by the Commercial Court of Sumy Oblast in October 2011, based on the court-approved register of the JSC’s creditors.
“The company’s lack of working capital, unprofitable operations, and production downtime are causing its accounts payable to rise,” the report states.
Sumykhimprom’s revenue in 2025 amounted to 129.2 million UAH (compared to 395.9 million UAH the previous year), gross profit to 53.3 million UAH (9.9 million UAH), and net loss to 405.7 million UAH (600.2 million UAH).
“The main reason for Sumykhimprom’s unprofitable operations in 2025 was the forced shutdown of production facilities from November 2024 through July 22, 2025, and the shutdown of all structural units in the fourth quarter of 2025. In 2025, Sulfuric Acid Plant No. 5 operated for only two months,” the report states.
According to the report, due to the escalation of the dangerous situation in the region, the regional military administration did not grant permission to purchase ammonia, which prevented the company from launching its production program for complex mineral fertilizers, as envisaged in the approved financial plan for 2025.
AUCTION, CHEMICALS, PRIVATIZATION, State Property Fund of Ukraine, SUMYKHIMPROM
