Japanese partners have confirmed their interest in projects to support Ukraine’s agricultural sector and train veterans, and the respective teams of the two countries are working together to find ways to implement these intentions, said Vitaliy Koval, chairman of the State Property Fund, following the visit of a Ukrainian delegation led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to the Conference on Economic Development and Reconstruction in Tokyo.
According to a release from the Fund, its head spoke about the key areas of the agency’s work, investment proposals for Japanese business, and new projects of the SPFU team – work with sanctioned property and the Land Bank, which is scheduled to be launched at the end of this year.
Regarding the latter project, the head of the Fund had a separate meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, as the SPFU manages 386 thousand hectares of agricultural land, which should work for the Ukrainian economy and bring profit to the state budget.
According to Koval, the meeting discussed attracting Japanese investors to the Ukrainian agricultural sector, in particular, the use of their equipment, as the need of Ukrainian farmers for mechanized machinery with a capacity of up to 200 hp is very high, and the world leaders in the production of such equipment are concentrated in Japan.
“Ukragroleasing can become their partner here. The company is managed by the SPFU and can help with leasing equipment,” said the head of the Fund.
He also called on foreign partners to pay attention to one of the most important areas of work for the whole country – retraining and training of veterans, which is the management and maintenance of agricultural machinery.
Koval said that the State Property Fund has the capabilities to assist in training: it can be conducted at the SPFU’s training centers, and such facilities will become training centers for operators and service engineers for Japanese agricultural machinery.
As reported, during the visit, the Ukrainian delegation signed 56 documents related to cooperation in many sectors of the economy of the two countries.
On October 6, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) will hold a privatization auction for the sale of state-owned enterprise Volyntorf with a starting price of UAH 190.2 million, according to the Fund’s website.
The auction will be held on Prozorro, and the guarantee fee for participation in the auction is UAH 38 million (excluding VAT).
“The State Property Fund already has experience in the successful sale of a state-owned peat enterprise. In early July, the SPFU held an auction for the sale of RivneTorf, during which 12 bidders competed. As a result, the starting price increased 4.3 times, to UAH 205 million,” the website quoted the SPFU’s deputy chairman, Sergiy Simonov, as saying.
According to the fund, Volyntorf is a profitable enterprise specializing in the production of peat briquettes. In the first half of 2023, the state-owned enterprise received UAH 90.4 million in revenue and UAH 6.2 million in net profit, and UAH 200 million and UAH 10.6 million in 2022, respectively.
As of June 30, 2023, Volyntorf had no overdue accounts payable, with current accounts payable amounting to UAH 20.2 million, including UAH 8.9 million in settlements with the budget and UAH 2.6 million in payroll.
In total, the facility includes 109 real estate units (production, warehouse, and administrative premises) with a total area of over 21 thousand square meters. The company employs 302 people and owns 164 vehicles. Volyntorf also includes a separate division, Manevychi Peat Plant.
The state-owned enterprise has special permits for subsoil use at the Zasvity Sitneluk field for 18 years and the Soyne field for 19 years.
“Peat is not a strategic fuel for the energy sector of Ukraine. Its total share in the country’s energy balance is less than one percent, according to the State Statistics Service. Therefore, the SPFU is gradually putting state-owned peat enterprises up for privatization auctions,” the SPFU explained.
As reported, on July 5, the SPFU sold RivneTorf at an online privatization auction in the Prozorro system for UAH 205 million at a price 4.3 times higher than the starting price.
State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) on Tuesday for the first time sold the seaport at online privatization auction in “Prosorro.Sells”: the price of “Ust-Dunaysk” has increased more than threefold – up to 201 million UAH from 60.01 million UAH. According to the information in the system, eight bidders competed for the facility. The winner was “Elixir Ukraine” LLC, associated with the working at the grain market group “Vimexim”: it bypassed LLC “Trading Company” East “and” Ukrdoninvest “, which were also willing to pay over 200 million UAH.
LLC “Metallbud Alliance”, “Seinerston”, “Tybex” and “Financial Company Concord Factoring” stopped at just over 150 million UAH, and LLC “Citadel Development” – 110 million UAH.
As noted FGI, since April 1, 2022, the port “Ust-Dunaisk” resumed its work and since then has transshipped 153 thousand tons of grain and 58.3 thousand tons of imported consumer goods for export at the design capacity of 4.1 million tons.
“This is the first port privatized in the Prozorro.Sales system. A landmark event that shows the state is ready. More than twice as much competition as the average at privatization auctions, and the multiple increase in price is a confirmation of the readiness of businesses to compete for such assets,” the director of GP “Prozorro.Sells” Alexei Sobolev said in a statement from the IGF.
The fund specified that the winner has 20 working days to pay the price of the lot after the auction. Only after the receipt of funds in the budget signed a contract of sale.
Port “Ust-Dunaisk” consists of three assets: the port in Vilkovo (Odessa region), port point “Kilia” in the city of the same name and special ships service base on Shabash Island. Loading-unloading operations are carried out at Kiliya port point, located at 54th km of the Danube River. Danube. The passport depths at the pier are 3 m, the actual depth is 1.5 m.
According to the information on the website, Elixir Ukraine LLC is engaged in the wholesale trade of chemical products. Since 2016, it has been the official representative of Elixir Zorka, a Serbian manufacturer of complex mineral fertilizers.
The company’s revenue for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 666.87 million UAH, net profit – 50.06 million UAH.
The company is headed by Oleksandr Vikhrenko, while the beneficiary is Valeriy Vikhrenko, owner of Vimexim.
