State-owned Ukreximbank (Kiev) has put up for auction the claim for the unfinished Sky Towers complex in the center of Kiev at a starting price of UAH 5.580bn.
The auction will be held according to the Dutch model (with price reduction) on May 11 at OpenMarket (SE “SETAM” of the Ministry of Justice).
An attempt to sell the asset had previously been undertaken by the state bank in November 2021 with a starting price of UAH 7.145 billion.
The bank report emphasizes that this is an offer “for an ambitious investor, ready to put an end to the epic of one of the most famous construction projects in the city”, specifying that the 47-storey complex of 223 th sq.m. is completed only up to 28 floors.
It should include two towers of 47 and 34 floors, office and retail premises, 8-level underground parking lot for 900 cars built on the land plot of 0,74 ha located in Sholudenko Street which was also mortgaged by the bank.
It is noted that additional liquid security is the array of 60 land plots with a total area of more than 80 hectares, located within Zazimskiy rural council of Brovarskiy district of Kyiv region.
Also pledged to the bank were property rights for design-bidding and design-budget documentation for building of a community center, and a 100% share in the authorized capital of a debtor legal person.
The possibility of transferring to this facility of the capital mayor’s office was discussed in early 2018 by the Kiev Investment Agency, the completion was estimated at $370 million. At the start of the project was estimated at $512 million.
As reported, Sky Towers on Pobedy Avenue, 13 could become the first Ukrainian skyscraper higher than 200 m (projected height of 214 m). The construction was carried out up to 2015, but reached 28 floors with a design height of 47, after which it was stopped. According to the director of the development company “Agency of Office Construction” Alexander Demin, preservation of the object was not carried out.
Credit agreement with Ukreksimbank was concluded in 2007. In May 2012, the KDD Group, which has fallen into a difficult financial situation, signed an agreement to sell the American Cimbrorum Holdings LLC for $ 202.4 million project Sky Towers and the residential complex “Zazimye. Of this amount, KDD was to receive $12 mln in cash, while the rest was obligations, including $168.4 mln to Ukreximbank. At the same time, the bank increased the credit line for the completion of Sky Towers to $193 million, and the borrower was the Office Construction Agency.
In 2019, the parties signed a financial restructuring plan, but the developer continued to default. The Economic Court of Kyiv in early 2021 satisfied the claim of Ukreximbank to recover from the Agency of Office Construction 5.95 billion UAH of the debt on the loan to finance the construction of Sky Towers.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the founder of the Office Construction Agency LLC with registered capital of UAH 442 million is the American Taccadero Trading Limited, with David Israel as the ultimate beneficiary.
Ukreximbank was founded in 1992, and the only owner is the state.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of November 1, 2022 Ukreximbank in terms of total assets ranked third (267.423 billion UAH) among the 67 operating in the country.
