Business news from Ukraine

NEW INSURANCE COMPANY REGISTERED IN UKRAINE

The National Commission for the State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, on April 9, entered the information on double liability company Gestalt Group (Kyiv) into the public register of financial institutions, the commission has said on its website.
According to the unified public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the company was registered in February 2019 with charter capital of UAH 34 million. It specializes in risk insurance and reinsurance.
The founders of the company were Gestalt Finance LLC (Kyiv) with contribution of UAH 33.660 million, PrJSC Arton-Megacity, Andriy Antonenko and Yuriy Khandashko, who is also the head of the company.
According to the public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, Gestalt Finance LLC was registered in March 2019 with charter capital of UAH 10,000. The founder is PrJSC Arton-Megacity and Antonenko.

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INGO INSURANCE COMPANY CHANGES NAME

INGO Ukraine insurance company (Kyiv) will operate under the name Joint-Stock Company INGO Insurance Company from April 2020, the insurer said in a press release.
Due to the change of name, the company’s logo and corporate identity are changing as well.
The company has been providing insurance coverage to its customers under the same brand for more than a decade and a half. The new name and visualization of the logo is an important stage in the implementation of the digital transformation strategy, as well as a reflection of the changes taking place in the company and the environment. The Latin transliteration of the company name INGO is emphasized by the fact that the company has been carrying out trans-border insurance and reinsurance operations for a long time, provides insurance services to its customers in any part of the world and is an active member of international guarantee coverage systems.
“The renewed logo is an element of our transformational strategy that is functional simplification, operational efficiency and the provision of high-tech insurance products and services. Thus, it is one of its important stages, which involves the creation of new products and services, as well as the development of a modern operating platform,” chairman of the company’s board Ihor Hordiyenko said.
The company said that the transition to the use of a new corporate style, including changing the signs of the company’s representative offices in the regions, will occur gradually. The announced changes will in no way affect the fulfillment of the current and future obligations of the company, as well as the concluded insurance and partnership agreements. The composition of shareholders, location, identification code of a legal entity, bank details also remain unchanged.
JSC INGO Insurance Company has more than 25 years of experience in the market. Since 2017, the main shareholder of the company has been the Ukrainian business group DCH of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky.
The company is one of the largest insurance organizations in Ukraine in terms of premiums, net worth volumes and insurance claims. It has 28 licenses for various types of compulsory and voluntary insurances, provides insurance services to corporate and retail clients.

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VICE-PRESIDENT OF ALFA-BANK (UKRAINE) CREATES COMPANY WITH $300 MLN REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO

Vice-President of Alfa-Bank (Kyiv) Iryna Skorokhodova has created Property Investment Boutique STRIX, which core business is purchase, management and sale of property. The company’s portfolio includes projects for $300 million.
“Alfa Bank was a temporary player in the real estate market. The real estate division was created to sell all that remained from the bank’s collateral. Therefore, to save the team and its experience, I launched a new company STRIX about a month ago and now its portfolio has facilities in Kyiv worth $300 million,” Skorokhodova said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, in particular, at present the STRIX portfolio includes 11 business centers, one shopping center, three land parcels for development, and one hotel construction project.
“All our business centers are successfully operating facilities with zero vacancy and foreign tenants,” Skorokhodova said.
According to the website of STRIX, it provides provide A-Z range of services from the property search for acquisition to property sale and further management.
According to Skorokhodova, the Alfa-Bank Real Estate Division is faced with the task of leaving the remaining assets as quickly as possible. At the same time, she considers the successful experience of selling Alfa-Bank’s collateralized property as an achievement of the Alfa-Real Estate team.
“According to estimates by Cushman & Wakefield, the volume of transactions in the secondary real estate market in Kyiv amounted to $330 million. So, $190 million of this amount is our deals,” the bank’s vice-president said.

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NORWAY’S COMPANY PLANS TO BOOST CAPACITY OF WIND FARMS IN UKRAINE

Norway’s NBT has enough potential to build an additional 700-800 MW of wind power capacities in Ukraine, the Office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine has reported, referring to NBT CEO Joar Viken speaking at a meeting of the National Investment Council of Ukraine in Davos (Switzerland). “The 250 MW Syvash wind farm is just the start of our plans to invest a considerable amount of capital in our large pipeline of wind projects in Ukraine over the next two to three years,” the Office said in a press release, citing Viken.
Viken said that NBT plans to build a new wind farm in Ukraine. Preliminarily it is planned to start the project in Zaporizhia region in the coming six or nine months. The company said that now it is evaluating engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors and suppliers of wind turbines, which will be involved in the project.
Viken said that success of the Syvash project thanks to the attraction of international project financing would be interesting for other private commercial investors and international financial institutions (IFIs).
“In addition, we foresee potential interest for ‘green bonds’ to financing NBT’s pipeline of new wind projects in Ukraine,” Viken said.
As reported, at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Davos an agreement was signed between the Norwegian company NBT, the French company Total-Eren and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) regarding the Syvash Wind Farm Project with a financing of EUR 260 million raised. Over EUR 350 million will be invested in the project. The project will be financed in the amount of EUR 150 million by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development together with a consortium of banks, Head of the Office of the National Investment Council Yuliya Kovaliv said.
According to the framework agreement, the Syvash Project is planned to be financed by a syndicate of eight foreign lenders, including the EBRD and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO). At the next stages of the project, additional financing from foreign funds specializing in similar energy projects is also expected.
According to the release, the funds were raised with the assistance of the U.S. investment bank J.P.Morgan, which acted as financial advisor to NBT. The Ukrainian legal adviser to NBT is Integrites, and the advisory assistance was also provided by the Natsinvestset office.
“In Ukraine, the real boom of alternative energy continues. In 2018, three times more capacity was launched than in the entire period of 2017 – more than 800 MW,” Kovaliv said.

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LARGEST EUROPEAN LOW COST RYANAIR COULD ESTABLISH COMPANY TO CREATE IT PRODUCTS IN UKRAINE

Ryanair, the largest European low cost air carrier, is considering the possibility of establishing a company in Ukraine to create IT products, Yulia Kovaliv, the head of the National Investment Council’s office, said on the air of Radio NV. “One of the ideas we discussed with the Ryanair leadership is to establish an internal company in Ukraine, which develops all IT products for the low cost carrier,” she said. Kovaliv also noted that in the near future the company plans to start domestic flights in Ukraine.
“If we are talking about the launch of domestic flights by the carrier in the country, then, again, the level of airport charges is important, but all companies understand that the cheaper the ticket is, the faster the airline will become competitive,” she said.
As reported, Ryanair began flights to Ukraine on the route Berlin-Kyiv-Berlin from September 3. Ryanair offers flights from Kyiv to six cities in Poland, one destination in Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Slovakia, the UK and Sweden, as well as two destinations from Lviv to Germany and Poland, one to the UK. Ryanair (Ireland) is the largest low cost airline in Europe.

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STATEMENT BY MASTER-AVIA COMPANY ABOUT NABU INVESTIGATION IN RELATION TO INTERNATIONAL KYIV SIKORSKY AIRPORT

On June 14, 2018, the administrative buildings and terminals of Kyiv International Airport named after Igor Sikorsky was blocked by National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) personnel equipped with automatic weapons. From 10:00 a.m. on June 14 to 05:00 a.m. on June 15, during the 19 hours, the management of municipally owned Kyiv International Airport and the Master-Avia company, including the heads of departments, and senior employees, were kept in their own offices without any means of communication and the possibility of coordinating the work of the airport. As a result, the work of both the municipal company and the Master-Avia private company, which is engaged in the development and maintenance of the airport, was blocked.
NABU’s operation resulted in the inability to prevent an accident that occurred with a plane operated by the BRAVO airlines, which performed the Antalya-Kyiv flight. During landing amid a violent storm, the airplane carrying 169 passengers aboard overshot runway and landed on its belly. The situation was complicated by the increased threat of an explosion: there were four tonnes of aviation fuel on board, there was a threat to the lives and health of the passengers. At that time, the airport’s management, which was, in fact, hostage to the security forces, was not able to take measures that are appropriate to that weather condition. Only thanks to the coordinated work of the airport’s rescue services, the situation was under control and nobody was injured as a result of the incident. This was the first case registered within 94 years of the airport’s work.
The airport’s management did not publish the details of the incident before because of the investigation of the aviation event by a special commission. However, as there is a probability that raids and other investigative measures may continue, the team of Kyiv International Airport considers it is their duty to warn that in case of new attempts to block the airport’s work by the security forces, it will suspend handling flights for the sake of the safety of passengers and crews. The safety of passengers remains a priority for the company.
Currently, the airfield and runway are on the balance sheets of municipally owned International Airport Kyiv. Master-Avia owns terminals and an apron. There was no reason for the use of force: the company’s activities are open and transparent, the management is always ready for constructive interaction with the control authorities and for required procedures. However, instead of asking for the necessary documentation, the Bureau’s agents chose a different path – the seizure of buildings, keeping the management and personnel without means of communication, searches both at the airport and in apartments in the top managers, seizure of documents and things, including personal ones, the blocking of activity and communications in the strictly policed security facility. Such actions by state authorities negatively affect the airport’s safety and the investment attractiveness of Ukraine.
Kyiv International Airport operates strictly in accordance with international and Ukrainian legislation and today it is one of the largest taxpayers in the capital among municipally owned enterprises. Master-Avia has invested more than $50 million in the creation of new airport infrastructure, and still spends all available resources on the repayment of a loan and the development of the only international airport located directly in Kyiv.
Reference information:
In 2010, an investment tender was held under the government program for the development of Ukrainian aviation infrastructure Master-Avia LLC won the tender. The company has concluded an agreement for the lease of the airport’s property for 49 years. The second bidder, a company with Russian roots, unsuccessfully challenged the results of the tender in courts of all instances.
Today, Kyiv International Airport, being operated by Master-Avia, cooperates with more than 40 airlines, performing flights to 140 cities in 48 countries. Every month, about 2,500 flights are operated, and almost two million passengers are served annually. Investment in the airport exceeds $50 million. More than 10,000 jobs have been created. Kyiv International Airport is the second largest taxpayer among municipally owned companies.

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