The state is preparing a repeat auction for the privatization of Odesa Port Plant (OPP) to find a strategic investor, possibly at a reduced price, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture after the auction scheduled for November 25 with a starting price of UAH 4.49 billion failed due to a lack of participants.
“The conditions for privatizing this asset were difficult from the outset, as the facility requires significant investment and specialized expertise. There is interest in the company on the market, but at the same time, international partners have emphasized the need for additional time and adjustments to certain conditions for full participation,” the Ministry of Economy said in a statement on Telegram.
The ministry added that in the current conditions of martial law and high risks, large industrial assets face a number of objective challenges: for OPZ, these are not only market conditions and security factors, but also the total cost, which may exceed the starting price, in particular, investment obligations.
“In order to increase the chances of selling assets at market value, the ministry supported a bill by a group of MPs that provides for the possibility of putting up large privatization objects with a gradual reduction in the starting price,” the message says.
The Ministry of Economy reminded the auction winner of the main investment obligations: to maintain the main activities of the plant; to invest at least UAH 500 million in the modernization of facilities and the development of production; repay within 12 months the debts on wages and to the budget, which as of the end of June 2025 exceeded UAH 366.8 million; gradually repay overdue accounts payable (except for claims of sanctioned persons and structures associated with the Russian Federation/Belarus) and comply with environmental and social standards.
OPZ’s revenue for January-June this year amounted to UAH 322.63 million, while its net loss was UAH 280.79 million. In 2024, the plant increased its revenue to UAH 944.22 million from UAH 494.57 million a year earlier, but its net loss increased to UAH 1 billion 839.3 million from UAH 1 billion 94.58 million.
Acting Chairman of the Board and Director of OPZ Yuriy Kovalsky said in an interview with NV Business in August this year that in August 2024, the plant’s management tried to launch one of the two ammonia units, but this step was not successful. Since then, OPZ has been converted to grain transshipment, and this activity has been the company’s only source of income, but at the end of June, as a result of a Russian air attack, the storage facilities were significantly damaged, which suspended transshipment operations. According to Kovalsky, OPZ’s partner in grain transshipment is the trader V AGRO LLC. In the 2024-2025 marketing year, approximately 638,000 tons of grain were transshipped: 625,000 tons of corn and 12,700 tons of soybeans.
The acting chairman of the board also said that OPZ had significantly optimized its costs, sold non-core assets, and was actively working with creditors, in particular Naftogaz of Ukraine, to offer a future investor a viable debt structure of about UAH 2.5 billion.
Kovalsky noted that for security reasons, OPZ does not plan to resume production in the near future, but is maintaining its production lines in full technical readiness so that it can resume operations as soon as possible. He estimated the cost of restarting the plant at approximately 30 million cubic meters of gas.
Ukraine has tried several times to privatize the enterprise, but without success. In 2009, the winner of the tender for the sale of OPZ was Nortima, a company controlled by the former owner of PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky, for UAH 5 billion. However, the tender commission refused to recognize the company as the winner due to the low price and suspicion of collusion among the participants, and declared the tender invalid.
Then, in 2016, Ukraine twice put 99.567% of OPZ shares up for sale: in July at a starting price of UAH 13.175 billion, and in December at a reduced price of UAH 5.16 billion, but both times without success. The lack of interest in Odesa Port Plant was linked, in particular, to its debt of over $250 million to Dmitry Firtash’s structures, as confirmed by the Stockholm Arbitration Court.
At the end of July 2018, the State Property Fund of Ukraine selected a consortium led by Pericles Global Advisory, consisting of White&Case LLP, Kinstellar, KPMG Ukraine, and SARS Capital, as an investment advisor for the privatization of Odesa Port Plant. Before the coronavirus crisis, it was expected that the company could be put up for sale as early as August 2020, but the Fund then postponed these plans until 2021 and ultimately did not implement them. In the last years before the war, fertilizer production at the company was carried out intermittently on a tolling basis.
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 has announced an auction for the privatization of a 100% stake in the charter capital of Vinnytsiabytkhim, a private joint-stock company, on August 13, according to the press service of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
According to the announcement, online bidding will take place in the Prozorro.Prozori electronic trading system with a starting price of UAH 301.4 million. The guarantee deposit is UAH 15.07 million, and the registration fee is UAH 80,000 (all figures are exclusive of VAT). The deadline for submitting bids for participation in the auction is August 12, inclusive (until 8:00 p.m.).
The property is located in Vinnytsia, at 4 Akademika Yangelya Street.
The main activity is the production of soap and detergents, cleaning and polishing products. The authorized capital is UAH 26,636,700.
The property consists of 25 units of real estate (buildings, structures, non-residential premises, etc.) with a total area of 31,364.2 square meters, located on four land plots with a total area of 4.1074 hectares.
PJSC Vinnytsiabychim has not entered into any lease agreements for its property.
According to the announcement, the new owner of the enterprise must maintain the main activities of the company and not allow the dismissal of employees during the first six months.
In addition, it must pay wage arrears and budget debts within six months, repay overdue accounts payable (except for debts to persons subject to sanctions), and comply with environmental legislation.
Vinnytsiabytkhim is included in the list of large privatization objects.
As reported, on July 31, 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) upheld the Ministry of Justice’s claim to impose sanctions on the Russian company Nevskaya Kosmetika in the form of confiscating 100% of the shares of the Ukrainian company Vinnytsiabutkhim to the state.
In July 2022, the seized assets of PJSC Vinnytsiabutkhim were transferred to the National Agency for the Detection, Investigation, and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA).
Following a competitive selection process in July 2023, the right to resume operations and become the asset manager was awarded to Kraitex-Service LLC, whose beneficiaries, according to Opendatabot, are Ruslan Shostak and Valery Kiptik, co-owners of the EVA and Varus chains. Later, Kraitex-Service announced that it would invest UAH 400 million in launching production at Vinnytsiabitim.
ARMA terminated its management of the asset in April 2025 and transferred it to the State Property Fund of Ukraine for further sale. According to the National Agency, during the period of management of the seized asset, almost UAH 100 million was transferred to the state budget.
As previously reported to Interfax-Ukraine by Afina Group, which includes Kraitex-Service LLC, the company is considering participating in a privatization auction for the acquisition of the production assets of PrP Vinnytsiaputkhim, which have been operating in the company’s production chain for the past two years. At the same time, Afina Group will not fight for the assets at any price, as it has a clear understanding of the limits of the feasibility of participating in competitive bidding.
For more information about PrVT Vinnytsiaputkhim, please visit: https://is.gd/VZVnkE
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) has put up the single property complex of the State Enterprise Zhytomyr Distillery (Zhytomyr) for privatization at auction via Prozorro.Sale at a starting price of UAH 101.1 million, the SPFU press service reports.
According to the report, the asset includes 147 units of real estate, 47 vehicles, 1457 units of equipment, furniture, inventory, etc. It is noted that in addition, the single property complex includes a separate subdivision of the Chudniv branch of the Zhytomyr Distillery (Chudniv), non-residential premises (Vilshanka village), a built-in premises (Korosten district, Olevsk), an artesian well (Korochenky village) and two shops (Zvyagel and Lyubar village). The total area of the asset is 24,320 square meters.
The state-owned enterprise has two valid licenses: for the production of alcoholic beverages valid until April 10, 2026, and for the right to wholesale alcoholic beverages, except cider and perry, which is valid until December 27, 2026.
As of December 31, 2024, the carrying value of assets amounted to UAH 101 million 90 thousand, accounts payable – UAH 161 million 196 thousand, including UAH 11 million 133 thousand in payroll and UAH 26 million 349 thousand to the budget. The company employs 205 people.
The company has a protection agreement for a local cultural heritage site. All of the company’s property has been seized, and it is not leased. Registration for the auction will last until April 10 at 20:00. The auction will take place on April 11.
Revenue from the privatization of state property in 2024 increased 3.1 times (by UAH 6.75 billion) compared to 2023, to UAH 9.9 billion, according to the website of the State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine. According to the website, in 2015, privatization revenues amounted to UAH 0.2 billion, in 2016 – UAH 0.2 billion, in 2017 – UAH 3.4 billion, in 2018 – UAH 0.3 billion, in 2019 – UAH 0.5 billion, in 2020 – UAH 2.2 billion, in 2021 – UAH 5.1 billion, in 2022 – UAH 1.7 billion, in 2023 – UAH 3.15 billion.
“In 2024, the SPFU managed to set a new record for privatization proceeds,” the agency stated.
In total, last year the Ukrainian budget received UAH 11.1 billion from privatization, in addition to UAH 9.9 billion in revenues, another UAH 1.2 billion was VAT.
At the same time, the sale of small-scale privatization objects brought in almost UAH 3.5 billion, with the most expensive lot being the Kyiv Kozatsky Hotel (UAH 0.4 billion), and two large-scale privatization assets – the capital’s Hotel Ukraine and the United Mining and Chemical Company – provided UAH 6.45 billion in budget revenues.
In 2024, the SPF also began to auction state assets with no book value or zero book value at a starting price of UAH 1. These auctions were highly competitive.
“We offer the market a wide range of objects: from large facilities to single property complexes for business development and real estate. Thanks to this, everyone can find options for investment. Over the past decade, privatization has become more transparent and its results have improved significantly,” said Ivanna Smachylo, acting head of the SPF.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has announced an auction for the privatization of the Ukraina Hotel with a starting price of UAH 1 billion 47.6 million. According to the SPFU press service, applications for participation in the auction scheduled for September 18 will be accepted until September 17. The guarantee fee is UAH 52.3 million.
The lot includes 14 registered units of real estate and infrastructure, including a hotel building; two security buildings; two non-residential buildings; two parking lots, etc. The total area is 26.3 thousand square meters.
According to the results of January-March 2024, the net loss of SE Hotel Ukraine amounted to UAH 3.1 million. In addition, as of March 31, it had wage arrears (UAH 3.8 million), overdue accounts payable (UAH 21 million), and budgetary debts, namely personal income tax (UAH 4.7 million), tourist tax (UAH 1.4 million), and land tax (UAH 4.5 million).
The privatization terms stipulate that the company’s core business (hotel operations) will be maintained for five years, that wage and budget debts will be paid within six months of the transfer of ownership, that social guarantees will be provided to employees in accordance with the law and that they will not be dismissed within six months, and that environmental legislation will be complied with.
As reported, in April, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine included Hotel Ukraina in the list of large-scale privatization objects. In May, the auction commission set the starting price for the privatization of the Ukraina Hotel at UAH 1 billion 47 million 637 thousand 152.
The Ukraine Hotel is a state-owned enterprise managed by the SPFU. The 14-story, 4-star hotel has 363 rooms, six conference halls and meeting rooms. There is a parking lot for 80 cars and a shelter with a separate auditorium for 50 people. The total area of the building is 22.4 thousand square meters.
