During his visit to the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the most influential American entrepreneurs and heads of major funds, the press service of the Presidential Office reported on Friday.
The meeting was organized with the assistance of JP Morgan, the world’s largest investment bank. The total value of assets under management of the funds whose managers participated in the event exceeds 30 trillion. In particular, according to the press service, the meeting was attended by Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg, Pershing Square Capital chairman Bill Ackman, Starwood Capital chairman Barry Sternlicht, Citadel LLC founder Ken Griffin, Blackstone investment company president Jonathan Gray, BlackRock deputy chairman Philip Hildebrand, Schmidt Futures charity chairman Eric Schmidt, Kraft Group chairman Robert Kraft and others.
“The parties discussed the prospects of involving the largest American business in Ukraine’s recovery and the implementation of investment projects. American entrepreneurs and financiers confirmed their readiness to make large-scale investments in Ukraine immediately after the end of the war and the receipt of security guarantees,” the press service reports.
President Zelenskyy also had a separate meeting with Larry Fink, chairman of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company.
Metinvest mining and metallurgical group will invest in a logistics center in Poland in order to increase the supply of Ukrainian metal products for export, the company’s CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the leading Polish business publication Business Insider.
According to him, Zaporizhstal and Kamet Steel are currently operating at 65-70% and 75% of their capacity, respectively. About 25% of products are sold on the domestic market, the rest goes mainly to the EU. At the same time, steel is sold mainly in neighboring countries, such as Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria.
The company also sells metal products to Italy, Germany or France.
“Steel mills can hardly complain about the low level of sales, but iron ore enterprises were less fortunate. Here, in addition to domestic consumption, China was also a buyer. However, in the current situation, exports there are practically impossible, since the Black Sea ports are blocked, therefore, the border countries of the EU also remain buyers here. Iron ore enterprises now use about 35-40% of their capacity. We tried to send raw materials to China through Romanian and Polish ports. However, unfortunately, the economy of this logistics simply does not work in the current market,” the top manager said.
He noted that at the same time, the coal production of the company in Ukraine operates at 100% capacity. The mined coal is supplied to the group’s coking enterprises in Ukraine, and is also sold on the local market. The rest is sold abroad, mainly in Slovakia and Poland.
“In 2022, our steel production decreased by 69% compared to last year. This affected a number of financial indicators. For example, our profit in 2022 is 54% less than last year,” the CEO said.
He also stated that Metinvest’s strategy has not changed – the company wanted to connect Ukraine and Ukrainian iron ore with the European steel production chain. Therefore, the group continues to look for opportunities to acquire assets that would allow it to use the Ukrainian raw material base, produce products in the EU and supply them to European consumers.
Laude Group, a Polish logistics operator, has transferred EUR100m worth of assets from Russia and Central Asian countries to Ukraine; the company plans to invest another EUR250m in an economic exchange program between Ukraine and the EU, Laude’s press service said.
“Laude Group is expanding its potential in Ukraine. The logistics company from Torun (Poland) has transferred its assets worth EUR100 mln to Ukraine over the past few months. These are all assets that were previously located in Russia and Central Asian countries,” the statement said.
It is noted that among other things, the move included 510 specialized railway platforms and several thousand containers, which are actively used to transport products from Ukraine to Europe.
The company plans to increase investments in Ukraine by purchasing locomotives, railcars and containers.
“We decided to implement an investment program worth about EUR250 million aimed at economic exchange between Europe and Ukraine. Railroads here are a key element for both exports and imports and the company is an important operator,” the statement quoted the company’s CEO Marcin Witczak as saying.
Laude said it received approval for cooperation with Ukrzaliznytsia JSC in May after a thorough and lengthy review. “This is a key agreement which means that we are very closely linked to the Ukrainian market,” commented Vitchak.
At the same time, Laude’s development plans go further than expanding its logistics systems. “There are many specialists from Ukraine among the company’s several hundred employees. We are working on a training program for machinists from Ukraine,” said the CEO of the company.
Laude emphasized that it did not stop operations in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion. The company stopped operations in russia. “According to the legislation in force in this country, Laude must obtain a decision from the Russian authorities that confirms the sale of the company, which previously operated in the Russian market. Although the Russian government is not seeking to facilitate the transaction for Polish entrepreneurs, the company hopes to finalize the process and achieve de-registration in the coming weeks,” Witczak said.
In its logistics operations, Smart Intermodal, a member of the group, uses a modern rail terminal in Zamoscie, located on both wide and narrow “European” rail lines and adapted for handling and transshipment of cargo (containers) through the Izow-Grubieszów border crossing (located 60 km from the terminal). Laude’s terminal in Zamoscie can handle 10 trains per day and up to 15 thousand TEU of containers per year.
Laude Group of Companies belongs to one of the largest importers of steel from Ukraine to the EU, ATS S.A. Laude is active on international markets through its companies, connecting eastern and western transportation routes through Poland. The company’s activities over the last 15 years have been carried out in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova (formerly in the Russian Federation). The company cooperates with contractors from Turkey, China, India. During the last years it has been actively investing in the development of Laude in Germany.
Australian businessman, head of investment company Tattarang and Fortescue Metals Andrew Forrest will invest $ 500 million in the Development Fund for Ukraine UDF, created together with the investment company BlackRock, said the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine from the Conference on Reconstruction in London.
According to a release on its website, Forrest will be a strategic advisor on the creation of UDF and its investment groups – green strategic metals, green iron, green hydrogen and green electricity – and will serve on an advisory panel for the Ukrainian government.
Forrest, in turn, speaking at the conference, urged other global investors to see Ukraine as an excellent long-term investment opportunity.
It is specified that the idea of UDF was conceived and developed by Forrest and inspired by the World War II Marshall Plan, and back in March 2022 he approached Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, to get advisory support for the creation of the investment vehicle.
His plans to be an anchor investor and invest $500 million in a green energy fund first became publicly known in November 2022.
In May 2023, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine announced the appointment of BlackRock FMA as a consultant on the design of the Ukraine Development Fund.
“We should not seek to rebuild what Ukraine was with its outdated Soviet-era infrastructure…We will build a future that is digital, green, fair and free of corruption,” Forrest said at the conference.
The press release notes that Forrests Minderoo Foundation has already contributed millions of dollars to help the Ukrainian people, including funding the first humanitarian grain shipment from Ukraine in August and providing critical storage facilities for farmers whose crops would otherwise have died. In addition, 180 generators were provided to provide power.
Ukrainian cat and dog food manufacturer Kormotech is investing EUR14 million to expand its production in Ukraine and Lithuania during 2022-2023, the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
Reportedly, some of the projects are already being implemented and some are planned to be implemented by the end of 2023. Investments in the Lithuanian plant in 2022-2023 will total EUR 5.4 million, and in Ukrainian plants for wet and dry feed by the end of this year will be about EUR 8.5 million.
The wet fodder production capacity at the Kedainiai Kormotech plant in Lithuania is expected to increase by 25%, and at the Ukrainian plant by 65%. At the Lithuanian plant, the company has integrated new technology for the production of wet feed in the premium and super-premium segments.
In Ukraine, the company is expanding the capacity of its wet feed factory, modernizing 50% of its existing equipment and automating manual processes, the company said. In addition, it plans to modernize its dry feed plant in 2023.
According to the press release, Kormotech continues to improve the efficiency of existing production and business processes.
According to the press release, last year it began working on a “zero losses” program to reduce all irreversible losses at the plant to zero or to recycle them. A complete energy audit of the production in the areas of heat recovery, thermal insulation and the system of monitoring of energy consumers in the processes was carried out. Kormotech began implementing the SAP ERP system in the cloud, which will help focus on innovation, reduce operating costs and improve process efficiency.
Kormotech’s 2022 results show a 12 percent increase in turnover to $124 million from $110 million in 2021. The goal in 2023 is to reach a turnover figure of $150 million and increase the export/Ukraine ratio to 30%/70% from 24%/76% previously through synchronous growth of markets, the report said.
LLC “Kormotech” is the leading Ukrainian manufacturer of food for cats and dogs, occupies the 51st position in the world ranking of petfood producers and the seventh in the ranking of the most dynamic petfood brands. Kormotech sells its own brands and partner brands in 40 countries.
The company has two dry and wet food plants in the Lviv region and a plant in Lithuania. The company produces products for cats and dogs under its own brands Optimeal, CLUB 4 PAWS (TM “Meow!” and “Woof!”) and in private label direction. The assortment has more than 650 items.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Elena and Rostislav Vovk.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk believes that it is better to invest in social hostels for IDPs than in the construction of modular towns.
“Today we have 25 modular camps in Ukraine. At most 5 thousand internally displaced people live in them. We have 4.8 million internally displaced people. Is it effective? As for me, it is better to invest in social hostels,” Vereshchuk said on the air of a national telethon on Friday.
According to her, there are a lot of dwellings in Ukraine, which, after being repaired, can be suitable for people living there.
Vereshchuk also drew attention to the fact that the modular hostels need to be maintained, which requires funds.
