Pluralis B.V., an impact investment fund managed by the American Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), invested UAH 9.98 million and UAH 9.42 million as part of an increase in the authorized capital of UP Media Plus LLC and UP Media LLC, thereby becoming the owner of 13% of the Ukrainska Pravda (UP) publication.
According to data from YouControl, the contributions of the founder and head of the Dragon Capital investment group, Tomas Fiala, remained unchanged at UAH 66.79 million and UAH 63.01 million, respectively, so his share decreased from 100% to 87%.
Fiala previously noted that after Pluralis entered the capital, representatives of the fund would also join the supervisory body that would be created with them.
“Their investment is through a supplementary issue. This means that it is an injection into the company itself, not a cash-out,” the owner of UP emphasized in an interview with Forbes Business Breakfast with Volodymyr Fedorin.
According to Fiala, UP is valued at “millions of dollars”: it has grown, but not significantly – by several tens of percent – since he bought a 100% stake in May 2021.
He added that he is counting on the help of the Pluralis B.V. fund in attracting additional investments in UP. According to the media owner, it is still too early to talk about the possibility of exiting these investments, perhaps in five to seven years.
Ukrainska Pravda is one of the country’s leading independent media outlets. It was founded in 2000 and writes about politics, society, economics, sports, technology, and international events, focusing primarily on digital platforms. According to the publication, its nationwide audience exceeds 15 million readers.
In May 2021, UP’s founding editor Alona Prytula and Fiala signed an agreement under which 100% of the corporate rights to the publication and all its assets were transferred to Dragon Capital. In 2025, they were re-registered directly to Fiala.
Fiala, a Czech citizen, also owns the NV media holding, which includes the magazine, portal, and radio station of the same name, but UP and NV operate independently of each other. After the purchase of UP, an agreement on editorial independence was signed between the new owner and the publication.
According to YouControl, in the first nine months of 2025, UP Media Plus’s revenue grew by 54.0% to UAH 73.1 million, while its net loss decreased by 20.2% to UAH 24.8 million. The company’s assets at the end of this period amounted to UAH 27.3 million.
UP Media received UAH 0.2 million in revenue for nine months of last year, with a net loss of UAH 4.6 million, which roughly corresponds to the figures for the same period in 2024. Its assets as of September 30, 2025, amounted to UAH 37.6 million.
Pluralis B.V. is a Dutch company headquartered in Amsterdam. The company’s shareholders, investors, and partners include a group of leading European media companies, democracy support funds, and impact investors, including the King Baudouin Foundation, Tinius Trust, Oak Foundation, Mediahuis, Erste Bank, Media Development Investment Fund, and SEDF, as well as other impact investors and family offices.
Dragon Capital is one of Ukraine’s largest investment groups, with nearly 30 years of experience in the country’s investment and financial services sector.
Maksym Chabanuk, whose full name coincides with the owner of OvoPrime LLC and HS Ecosystem LLC (Kyiv), has announced his intention to purchase 14,890 shares of Bilotserkivske Poultry Farming PJSC (Kyiv region), which represents 76.478445% of the authorized capital.
According to a statement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), at the time of filing this statement, he and his related parties did not own any shares in the company.
Chabanyuk specified that the nominal value of each share is UAH 10.00, so he intends to spend UAH 148,850 on the purchase of a block of shares, for which he will acquire a significant controlling stake in the company.
PJSC “Bila Tserkva Poultry Farm” was established in 2000 in the village of Mala Vilshanka, Bila Tserkva district, Kyiv region. It specializes in egg production (laying hens) and the breeding and sale of young poultry.
The approximate number of birds at any one time is 100-150 thousand. According to technical data, there are about 6-10 separate buildings (poultry houses) on the territory of the production base in the village of Mala Vilshanka. Some of them are used to keep the parent flock, while others are used for industrial laying hens and/or rearing young birds.
The authorized capital is UAH 194,630. The beneficiary of the enterprise is Valentina Matusevich, and the head of the enterprise is Yuriy Matusevich.
In December, Viktor Ivanchik, CEO of Astarta agricultural holding, bought 134,640 shares, or 0.53856% of the total number of shares, on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and outside it through Albacon Ventures Limited at an average price of PLN51.93 per share.
According to stock exchange reports, transactions were concluded on the stock exchange on 14 days in December, during which a total of 50,334 thousand shares were purchased at an average price of PLN45.94 per share, and on December 19, an off-exchange transaction was concluded to purchase 84,306 thousand shares at a price of PLN55.5 per share.
In total, in December, the CEO of Astarta paid PLN6.99 million, or about $1.94 million at the current exchange rate, for additional shares, while in November he purchased 100 thousand shares on the stock exchange for PLN4.66 million, or about $1.29 million at the current exchange rate.
It is noted that after these transactions, Ivanchik owns 10 million 913.25 thousand shares of the agricultural holding, or 43.653% of their total number.
Prior to this, on September 15, Ivanchik purchased 244,679 thousand shares outside the stock exchange, or 0.9787% of their total number, also at a price of PLN55.5 per share, which is significantly higher than the quotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
As of this Monday at 11:50 a.m., Astarta shares are trading on the stock exchange at PLN45.1, giving the company a market capitalization of PLN1.128 billion, or about $312.7 million.
According to the latest report, at the end of September this year, the Ivanchik family owned a total of 43.21% of shares, compared to 42.23% of shares in the middle of the year, 41.48% at the beginning of this year, and 41.28% at the end of September last year. Fairfax Financial Holdings has also been a major shareholder all this time, with 29.91%, while another 2.1184% of shares are owned by the company itself and were previously repurchased as part of a buyback. As of May this year, minority shareholders also included Kopernik Global Investors with 2.64% and Heptagon Capital with 1.8%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In January-September 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 42.2% to EUR43.70 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 22.4% to EUR342.78 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
Olena Stepanenko, a member of the supervisory board of Kremenchug Road Machinery Plant JSC (Kredmash, Poltava region), increased her stake in the company from 4% to 20%, in particular, through the direct sale of 15.97% of the shares belonging to the chairman of the supervisory board, Kredmash president Mykola Danileiko, who died in April 2025.
According to information provided by the company in the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), Boris Muntean, who owned 5.07% of Kredmash JSC shares, also left the group of shareholders. Until 2002, Muntean held the position of director of Kredmash, where he was replaced by Danileiko.
Olena Mykolaivna Stepanenko is likely the daughter of Mykola Danileiko (in an interview with the local press, he said that he has a daughter named Olena – IF-U).
As of the first quarter of this year, according to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, the shareholders of Kredmash JSC who own more than 5% of the authorized capital also include the head of the company, Oleksandr Tverezyi (10.21%), and KDM Invest LLC (9.81%), whose ultimate beneficiaries, according to opendatabot, are Oleksandr Tverezyi and Olena Stepanenko (49.95% each).
The shareholders of Kredmash JSC also include Euroavtomatizatsiya LLC (9.6%), whose ultimate beneficiary is listed as Oleg Oksak.
Kredmash specializes in the development and manufacture of asphalt and soil mixing plants, spare parts for construction and road equipment, tank trucks, bitumen tankers, cast iron and steel castings.
In 2024, the plant reduced its net sales revenue by 23% compared to 2023, to UAH 143.65 million, while its losses decreased by almost 23%, to UAH 13.08 million.
As reported, in pre-war 2021, the plant sold products worth UAH 1.2 billion. In June 2022, as a result of hostile missile strikes on Kremenchuk, the plant’s industrial facilities were partially destroyed.
The National Agency for Asset Tracing and Management (ARMA) is holding consultations on obtaining management projects for the seized 49.5% stake in Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (PGZK) of the mining company Ferrexpo plc, whose main assets are located in Ukraine.
According to ARMA, preliminary market consultations have been announced through the receipt of management program proposals or commercial offers and/or other documents, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Section II of the Methodological Recommendations on the sequence of actions of ARMA employees in the preparation and conduct of competitive selection of asset managers, approved by ARMA Order No. 223 of September 29, 2023 No. 223 (as amended by Order No. 54 of February 14, 2025), within the framework of the competitive selection of asset managers.
It is specified that the seized asset is 49.5% of the authorized capital of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant PJSC in the form of 153.450 million ordinary registered shares. The basis for the transfer of the asset to ARMA is the ruling of the investigating judge of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv dated February 28, 2025, in case No. 757/9095/25-k.
Potential managers may be: a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur registered in accordance with the procedure established by law as business entities (Article 1033 of the Civil Code of Ukraine).
Information on the expected results of asset management may be submitted in any form by 3:00 p.m. on October 24, 2025.
As reported, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv granted the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine to transfer 49.5% of the shares of one of the main assets of the companies, Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, to ARMA.
The DBR statement noted that the transfer of corporate rights of PGZ is related to ongoing court cases in Ukraine regarding the alleged embezzlement of funds from the Finance and Credit Bank, which previously belonged to Kostyantyn Zhevago and was declared insolvent in 2015.
In turn, Ferrexpo plc considers the transfer of 49.5% of Poltava Mining’s corporate rights to ARMA a violation of international treaties, in particular, international investment agreements between Ukraine and the United Kingdom and Ukraine and Switzerland. The company said it would initiate international arbitration against Ukraine.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. Ferrexpo owns 100% of the shares of Poltava Mining, 100% of Yeristovsky Mining, and 99.9% of Bilanovsky Mining.
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) has opened a call for proposals for the management of 25% of the authorized capital of PJSC Kryukiv Railway Car Building Works (KVBZ, Kremenchuk, Poltava region), according to the ARMA website.
The agency notes that this stake belongs to Austria’s Capital Management GmbH (controlled by Russian citizen IF-U) and is valued at more than UAH 21.5 million.
The asset was transferred to ARMA for management by decision of the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv in July 2022.
“ARMA invites potential managers to participate in preliminary market consultations and submit their proposals,” the statement said.
As reported, ARMA has repeatedly tried to find a manager for this block of shares in PJSC KVBZ – according to information in Prozorro, the last tender announced in April 2025 did not take place due to the absence of proposals.
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) for the first quarter of 2025, 25% of PJSC KVBZ shares are owned by Estonian companies AS Skinest Finants and Osauhing Delantina, and 20% are owned by Transbuilding Services Limited, registered in England.
KVBZ names the chairman of the supervisory board and president Volodymyr Prykhodko as the main owner.
The plant manufactures passenger and freight cars, regional diesel trains, high-speed interregional locomotive-hauled trains, spare parts, and bogies for freight cars.
In 2024, the plant sold 1,096 freight cars, which is almost 10% more than sales in pre-war 2021. The first 15 passenger cars from contracts for 66 units were also delivered to Ukrzaliznytsia.
Net profit amounted to UAH 81.08 million, compared to a loss of UAH 143.76 million in 2023, with net income growing by 81% to UAH 3.77 billion.
As of the beginning of 2025, the plant employed 3,611 people (compared to 3,946 a year earlier).
