The UFuture investment group of Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to increase investment in various businesses by 20% in 2019, to $60 million.
“Last year, the UFuture group invested almost $50 million in various businesses. In 2019, we plan to invest another $60 million. If we talk about investments only in impact projects, I estimate the total amount, taking into account capital investments, to be more than $50 million,” Khmelnytsky said in an interview with the Top 100. Rating of the Largest magazine.
He said on his Facebook page that in September this year, UFuture will open a new campus on the territory of the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
“At UNIT.City, everything is in line with the schedule. In September, a new campus and an art facility [will appear],” he wrote.
As reported, in January 2019, UFuture in partnership with KAN Development on Wednesday took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the third campus – a new six-story B12 business center with a gross area of 16,900 square meters – in the UNIT.City innovation park (Kyiv).
In February 2019, Khmelnytsky said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the first phase of LvivTech.City is scheduled for opening at the end of 2019.
He said that the first Lviv campus will combine office and commercial sections (cafes and restaurants). The office space will be 9,500 square meters, commercial – 3,000 square meters.
UFuture unites companies and social projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the UDP development company, the Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, outdoor advertising operator RTM-Ukraine, as well as innovative businesses: UDP Renewables (creates and develops photovoltaic power plants under its control), the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.
UFuture Investment Group has opened Plank Electrotechnic, Ukraine’s first plant to produce modern electrotechnical systems. The building of the enterprise meets international BREEAM sustainability standards (compliance with about 50 criteria for environmental construction). Plank Electrotechnic products are now undergoing EU certification procedures.
“We have invested $2.8 million in the enterprise and expect to return the investment within five years. The Ukrainian market is a priority, but the company plans to expand the outreach to Eastern European consumers. I believe that the development of modern technological industries is a very promising area, both from business and social points of view – it is not only profit, but also taxes and jobs,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, the founder of UFuture, has said.
Plank Electrotechnic will produce about 4.6 million units annually and will compete mainly with Chinese and Turkish manufacturers on the Ukrainian market. This high-tech enterprise will produce electrical fittings, accessories and components: sockets, switches, mounting boxes, cable ties, buttons, etc.
“Opening a new plant marks the beginning of the development of Plank innovative production cluster at Bila Tserkva Industrial Park which will make goods from high-tech materials in the field of electrical engineering, construction and mechanical engineering. We offer entrepreneurs who plan to work in these areas to quickly scale their businesses without unnecessary administrative and bureaucratic obstacles,” Chief Executive Officer of Bila Tserkva Industrial Park Volodymyr Khmurych has said.
The construction of three new plants at Bila Tserkva Industrial Park will start within the year, and 20 modern enterprises will be created in the next four years.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a Ukrainian private equity firm and group of companies, based in Kyiv. UFuture consolidates UDP, which is a real estate development company specialized in large infrastructure projects, the country’s second biggest Kyiv Sikorsky international airport, national Ukrainian outdoor advertising operator RTM, and Bila Tserkva industrial park. The group develops new and innovative businesses such as renewable energy generator UDP Renewables, pharmaceutical producer Biopharma, and innovation parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City. UFuture supports and coordinates numerous impact and sustainability projects related to education and economics, some of which are annual Kyiv International Economic Forum, Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School, cutting-edge IT coding school UNIT Factory and Lean Institute Ukraine.
Bila Tserkva Industrial Park is a large-scale investment project aimed at facilitating establishment of modern manufacturing in Ukraine. It is a one-window platform that allows producers to access all necessary assets, utilities and services and focus on the development of their businesses. The park offers industrial land and property with all engineering infrastructure for rent or purchase, turn-key solutions and a possibility of co-investment in manufacturing. Local market insight and substantial experience in real estate development allows the park’s team to provide clients with additional consulting services on setting up an efficient production.
Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s UFuture Group plans to complete the renovation and expansion of Terminal A, which is the main terminal of Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (Zhuliany), from 14,000 to 23,500 square meters by May 2019, the project is estimated at UAH 630 million.
“We are building a new [terminal] not to increase the number of passengers, but to create comfort for those who fly,” the businessman said at a press conference on Thursday, explaining that often one time slot at the airport can be shared by seven low-cost airlines.
He says the airport’s throughput capacity, which is about 700 people per hour, can double.
Construction works at the airport began two months ago, Chairman of the airport’s Board of Directors Denys Kostrzhevsky said. The runway will not be closed for the period of the works at the terminal.
“The existing runway is good enough, its warranty is valid. We are not going to overhaul it, sometimes we fix something, improving some processes,” Khmelnytsky said.
Both own reinvested funds of the managing company and loans are the source of financing of the works, Kostrzhevsky said.
Khmelnytsky says that the payback period of investment in the expansion of Terminal A is expected to be from eight to nine years. UFuture invested more than UAH 2.5 billion in the airport’s complex in seven years.
He also said that he was considering the possibility of building a low-priced hotel and hangars next to Terminal A, but it might happen no earlier than the end of its reconstruction.
“Our resources are not unlimited. First, we will build the terminal. I hope we will launch it. It will give us a little more income, and we will make estimates proceeding from this,” Khmelnytsky said.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in autumn 2017 and united the business projects of Vasyl Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Ukrainian development company UDP, whose specialization is the implementation of large infrastructure projects. In addition, the conglomerate united businesses in such areas as UDP Renewables, the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the innovation parks UNIT.City, and LvivTech.City.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport is located in the business center of the capital, seven km from the city center. It is the second largest airport in Ukraine in terms of the number of flights and passenger traffic. The airport has three terminals with a total area being 21,000 square meters. The airport’s runway is able to handle B-737 and A-320 aircraft.
In the nine months of 2018, the airport serviced 2.165 million passengers, which was 57.3% up on January-September 2017. In September 2018 alone, passenger traffic grew by 30.6%, to 307,500 people.
Master-Avia LLC began managing the airport after winning a tender in 2010 and leasing airport property for 49 years.
Khmelnytsky and Kostrzhevsky are the beneficiaries of Master-Avia LLC, according to the state register of legal entities of entrepreneurs, are businessmen. Master-Avia indicates it owns terminals and the apron, while the airfield and the runway are on the balance sheet of municipally owned Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany).
AIRPORT, KYIV, RECONSTRUCTION, SIKORSKY, TERMINAL, UFUTURE, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY'S
The UFuture Group of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to attract around $150 million of investment in the Bila Tserkva 2 industrial park registered by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry last week, creating a food industry cluster on its territory, Director of Bila Tserkva industrial park Volodymyr Khmurych has said. “But this [the amount of investment] is no more than forecasts. It is difficult to predict which customer will enter,” he told the Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the need to create a second industrial park in the territory of the Shakrivka Village Council of Bila Tserkva district, where in April 2018 the first Bila Tserkva industrial park of the UFuture group was registered.
According to Khmurych, the decision to create a second park was dictated by the interest of food industry companies.
“We see the intentions of food processing companies. Today, two memorandums have already been signed, and we want to place these clients separately in the food cluster, taking into account the fact that they have special requirements for the sanitary zone and environmental requirements. And since we have a vacant land parcel, we have decided create a new industrial park on it,” he said.
As reported, the first Bila Tserkva industrial park in the territory of the Shakrivka Village Council was registered by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry in April 2018, the construction of the first plant for the production of Plank Electrotechnic electrical installation systems is currently being completed on its territory.
Khmurych said that if the main focus of the second park is the food industry, then the first one will be focused on other industries.
“Of course, if some customers of the food industry will meet the conditions of the first park, we will not deny them, but we will offer the second one first of all,” he said.
He also said that in the first Bila Tserkva park, in addition to completing the construction of Plank Electrotechnic, the signing of an agreement with another client is at the final stage, but he did not name it.
“Activity is high, almost every day meetings with new clients are held, but projects are complex and decisions are not made quickly,” the park director said.
According to him, it is planned to attract at least $100 million of investment in both parks.
“Only for buildings: this is 10–15 hectares of 35 hectares of the park’s area. This is already $50 million, and plus equipment and other things,” Khmurych said.
BILA TSERKVA 2, INDUSTRIAL PARK, INVESTMENT, UFUTURE, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY
Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry has included the Bila Tserkva 2 industrial park (Kyiv region) in the register of industrial parks. According to the report posted on the ministry’s website, the park, 34th in the list, was registered under a ministry order of October 4, 2018.
The initiator of the creation of the industrial park on a land plot of 34.7138 hectares in the territory of the Shkarivka Village Council in Bila Tserkva district is Bila Tserkva 2 Industrial Park LLC.
According to the state register, the founder of the said limited liability company registered in June 2015 with a charter capital of UAH 1,000 is UDP Industrial Parks Limited (Cyprus), the ultimate beneficiary of which is businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
In April 2018, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry registered the Bila Tserkva industrial park created on the initiative of Bila Tserkva Industrial Park LLC, which is owned by Khmelnytsky.
The declared period of operation of the Bila Tserkva 2 industrial park is 50 years.
The priority types of economic activity in the industrial park will be the production of food and non-alcoholic beverages; light industry (textiles, clothing), paper and paper products; and storage facilities.
According to tentative calculations, up to 1,100 jobs can be created on the territory of the industrial park.
According to the information on the website of the Bila Tserkva industrial park, which is part of the UFuture investment group, the project has been developing since 2016. The company plans to attract $100 million in investment and create 3,000 jobs.
The Plank Electrotechnic plant, the manufacturer of modern electrical systems, was created at the industrial park.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in autumn 2017.
BILA TSERKVA, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, INDUSTRIAL PARK, TRADE MINISTRY, UFUTURE
UDP Renewables, part of UFuture Group of Vasyl Khmelnytsky, has built a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 18 MW in Kherson region, the businessman said on his Facebook page. “UDP Renewables has built an 18 MW solar plant in Rykove (Kherson region). Considering the fact that the Kherson sun is much more efficient than in Kyiv, we plan to fully pay back the investment ($18 million) in five or six years. The station will be connected in a few months,” he wrote. Khmelnytsky added that during the construction of the solar plant, racks, cables and inverters of Ukrainian origin were used, while solar panels were imported from China. To build the station, according to the businessman, the territory of the former industrial zone, unusable for agriculture, was used.
As reported, earlier the group of Khmelnytsky built the first stage of a solar plant with a capacity of 6 MW in the village of Velyka Dymerka of Kyiv region. After the construction of the first stage, the group attracted Spanish-based Acciona Energia Global as a partner for the expansion of the project.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in autumn 2017 and united the business projects of Vasyl Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Ukrainian development company UDP, whose specialization is the implementation of large infrastructure projects. In addition, the conglomerate united businesses in such areas as UDP Renewables, the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the innovative parks UNIT.City, and LvivTech.City.
