Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that from September 1, privatization should start massively in Ukraine.
“The President of Ukraine has set the task of launching privatization from September. To this end, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the relevant legislation, the government has developed all the by-laws. We must make this process as fast as possible,” the press service of the government quoted Shmygal as saying after a conference call with regional leaders.
At the same time, according to the prime minister, the state is launching grant programs to motivate businesses and people to create jobs as much as possible.
“Small-scale privatization, especially in regions where people in villages and towns know objects that have been standing for years and inefficiently used, is designed to make it possible to buy these premises at a fair price and start work,” he added.
According to Shmyhal, privatization will also allow expanding production for farmers.
“The Ministry of Economy said that in early September, according to the schedule, auctions for elevator capacities and grain factories will be announced. Market operators, seeing a shortage of capacities, will be able to take part in these tenders,” the prime minister said.
The Verkhovna Rada on Thursday adopted an updated law on privatization (No. 7451), which will transfer large privatization to Prozorro auctions without advisers, speed up small privatization and remove a number of problematic issues.
233 deputies voted “for” with the required minimum of 226, according to information on the parliament’s website.
“Regarding large privatization. The main thing that has changed is that we are transferring all large privatization to Prozorro. All procedures have been prescribed as it is in small privatization,” one of the main innovations was named earlier in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine and. about. Head of the State Property Fund Olga Batova.
According to her, large-scale privatization, in the form in which it was and in which it is now, has shown the inefficiency of advisers. Among the claims against them, the head of the Fund singled out the lengthy preparation of the object for privatization; duplication of transactions with potential buyers, in particular on audit; potential corruption risks of engagement by one of the potential buyers.
“The draft law proposes that the Foundation will make a virtual folder (data room) with all the information about the enterprise: all valid contracts, court cases, financial statements – we fully set out and give each potential buyer three months to do an audit on their own,” she described the proposed new procedure, the head of the SPF.
With regard to small-scale privatization, she pointed out that the law further simplifies procedures, for example, introduces an online signature of the auction protocol, shortens the entire process from the moment the auction is announced to the signing of the contract to two months, introduces the possibility in some cases to do without the AMCU, cancels the requirement to publish in newspaper “Vedomosti Privatization”.
“In addition, we have provided for a very important change that will always be in effect: so that payment for the object is made before the signing of the contract – after the auction and the signing of the protocol, but before the signing of the contract,” the head of the SPF stressed. According to her, there are several cases, especially in the auctions held at the end of February, that buyers do not want to pay, arguing that it was force majeure.
Another important norm, she called the possibility of selling objects with arrests, which will allow creditors to finally receive their funds. “We propose to re-register the ownership of the winner of Prozorro, but all arrests will remain until the new owner repays the debt,” she explained.
“The list for privatization today includes a little more than 115 enterprises. There are many more objects,” Batova said.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) may permit Gorky Agrofirm (Kyiv), part of the agricultural holding Ristone Holdings, to purchase Kosari distillery (the village of Kosari and the town of Smila, Cherkasy region), the right to which the company won at a privatization auction in November for UAH 162.88 million.
The state regulator considered the relevant issue at a meeting on December 30.
According to the website of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF), the privatized asset consists of 1,360 names of buildings, structures, movable and other property, including an industrial building, a fermentation department, a granary and a distillery, a company store, a pig farm, warehouses, hangars, etc. The facility is equipped with basic technological equipment, as well as the necessary communications.
The enterprise is located on nine land plots with a total area of 75.74 hectares the village of Kosari and the town of Smila.
Ristone Holdings is an agricultural vertically integrated holding.
Ristone Holdings cultivates 65,800 hectares on the territory of Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhia regions. It is engaged in the cultivation of grain and industrial crops, animal husbandry, production and wholesale and retail trade in agricultural products, in particular, flour, bread, bakery products, etc.
Privatization of the alcohol industry involves the sale by the State Property Fund of 41 distilleries of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt and another 37 factories united in the Ukrspyrt concern. In total, it is expected to attract about UAH 2 billion. At the same time, in 2020, the amount of assets sold at 20 auctions amounted to UAH 1.26 billion.
If the government makes a final decision on privatization of PrivatBank, it can be sold in 2024 for a very large sum, the NV newspaper reports, citing Chairman of PrivatBank’s Board Gerhard Boesch.
“We plan to carry out privatization if the shareholder finally decides to do so in 2024. It is not far off. Time is running very fast. Regarding the price, I think it would be too early and unprofessional to give a public assessment right now,” Boesch said at the Ukraine and World 2022 gala event organized by the NV media holding on Thursday evening.
In his opinion, given the bank’s performance in recent years, as well as a plan for the next three years, “this is an asset that will have a very high selling price.”
The State Property Fund (SPF) has issued an order on the privatization of the power generating company PJSC Centrenergo.
“By order of the State Property Fund No. 1275 dated July 23, 2021, the decision was made on the privatization of a state-owned enterprise – a state-owned stake of shares in the amount of 78.289% of the charter capital of the public joint-stock company Centrenergo. These are 289,205,117 shares,” the SPF said in a statement on its website on Monday.
According to the order that approved the plan for the placement of shares, the stake of the power generating company is planned to be placed at an auction with conditions from August 2 to December 31, 2021.
The SPF’s large privatization department shall ensure the creation of an auction commission and a competitive selection of an advisor to prepare for privatization and the sale of the stake.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine will transfer from its portfolio of assets three hotels in Kyiv, Lviv and Kryvy Rih to the State Property Fund (SPF) for further privatization, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko has said.
He said that these are the hotels Vlasta in Lviv, Kozatsky in Kyiv and Bratislava in Kryvy Rih.
“We thank the Minister of Defense. The letters have already been sent to the Fund, and I hope that in the near future these facilities will go for privatization,” Tymoshenko said at the Ukraine 30. Economy without Oligarchs forum in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to him, these hotels are non-profit-making.
