Industrial investors are looking for brownfield projects (on the former industrial zones) and are ready to invest in Ukraine now, said the managing partner of CBRE Ukraine Radomir Turcan during the architectural and construction business forum “Rebuilding the country. A Strategy for Change for Architects, Developers and Developers.”
“Active hostilities in the east of the country forced industrial businesses to leave the war zone and move to safer regions of western and central Ukraine. This has given a boost to the development of industrial real estate and the creation of new industrial parks in the region, and this trend will grow in the next three to five years,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, during 2022 800 enterprises were relocated to safer regions of the country, 623 of which have already resumed work in the new place. Most of the enterprises relocated to Lviv (24%), Transcarpathian (14.5%), Chernivtsi (9.8%), Ivano-Frankivsk (8.3%), Khmelnytsky (7.3%), Ternopil (6.3%) regions.
“Activation of demand for industrial plots and objects is especially noticeable in the western regions. In addition, we note the potential demand from international investors who are ready to develop industrial production in Ukraine, which will work for the EU market,” – said Tsurkan.
Headquartered in Los Angeles (USA), CBRE is the world’s largest commercial real estate consulting and investment firm, with revenues of $30.8 billion in 2022 and is listed by Fortune as one of the world’s 500 largest companies.
The shares of CBRE Group Inc. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
CBRE’s Ukrainian office opened in January 2008, is part of the company’s affiliated network.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking by video link to the participants in the conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine (Rome), called on Italian business to invest in the Ukrainian economy based on new security standards.
As the president stressed, Ukraine and its partners will have to prepare already this year the most ambitious economic project of modern times in Europe, in particular, the project for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“Europe has not seen such destruction since World War II, which was brought to Ukraine by the Russian Federation. But it was after that war that Europe saw what real reconstruction yields and what growth brings. We are now on the cusp of no less opportunity. There is a demand in the world for new security standards so that every country can defend itself against any manifestation of aggression. We in Ukraine are creating such security standards,” Zelensky said.
The head of state called on representatives of Italian business and investors to join the reconstruction of Ukraine on the basis of new security standards in 5 key areas: energy, construction, technology, access to global markets and cooperation in pharmaceuticals and human rehabilitation.
Speaking of the energy sphere, Zelensky emphasized that now it is necessary to do everything to prevent the enemy from having even a theoretical opportunity to break the Ukrainian energy sector. The answer to this can only be its transformation and decentralization of energy production.
“The more green energy producers, the more resilient the system. The more sources of energy supply, the more reliably each city, community and family is supplied. Italy is one of the leaders in the creation of smart grids. I invite your companies to develop together the Ukrainian networks. Do not forget that in the near future Ukrainian networks will be the EU networks,” he said.
The President also noted that Ukraine has an enormous need to rebuild infrastructure on a new security basis, and therefore he invited Italian companies to plan, design and build together with Ukrainians.
In addition, he called on Italy to invest in the production in Ukraine of military equipment, which it receives from partners, in particular sea drones, UAVs, etc.
Also, according to the President, Ukraine to assist in the processing of its own resources with the subsequent entry into the global market. Which, in turn, will help to replace companies from Russia.
Finally, the last example of cooperation between Ukraine and Italy could be pharmaceuticals and rehabilitation of people affected by war.
Ukraine is a huge market for pharmaceutical products as well. Localization of production in our country gives a huge benefit. But the war has given a new level to this industry – we are talking about people who need rehabilitation after injuries and those whose lives are poisoned by post-traumatic disorders. We will work on this in Ukraine together with the best representatives in the world. Ukraine has a unique experience in defense of the state and people in the conditions of aggression. We invite Italy to build a new security together with us, we invite your business, investment and experience to come to Ukraine now”, – summarized Zelensky.
Cherkasy Bus JSC which produces Ataman buses based on Japanese Isuzu units is planning to invest UAH 200 million in the project for creation of two buses exceeding the buses produced today, deputy Dmitry Kisilevsky said after his visit to Cherkasy.
“Due to localization, the owner of Cherkasy Bus, Alexander Dorosh, is bolder in his plans to invest. He is preparing two new larger buses for production. The volume of investments in this project is 200 million hryvnias,” he wrote in Facebook on Thursday, summarizing some results of the law on localization in machine-building, initiator of which he is.
According to him, during the period of the law (since June 2022), which in 2023 provides for mandatory availability of at least 15% of the Ukrainian component in public procurement (and +5% annually until it reaches 40%), the plant has produced 324 buses, won 60 tenders in public procurement – not only for buses, but also for other wheeled vehicles with localization.
“The largest of them is for the supply of 126 school buses for the Lviv region. The localization index in these buses is 60%. Today, two-thirds of the company’s production is an order from the public sector,” Kisilevsky stressed.
In this connection, he noted inappropriate, in his opinion, limitation of the maximum support, which industrial manufacturers can get from the state on the program 5-7-9, to the sum of 60 million hryvnias.
“For comparison, this ceiling is set at 1 billion UAH for retail chains. Such priorities, in my opinion, should be changed to the exact opposite. “Cherkassy bus” program 5-7-9 successfully took advantage of, but the need for investment funds is much more, “- emphasizes the people’s deputy.
Kisilevsky noted that “Cherkassy bus” was idle only a few days in February 2022 (immediately after the Russian invasion), and now 450 residents of Cherkassy work at the plant, another 50 specialists the company is ready to hire. The average salary is 15,000 hryvnias.
He stressed that in Ukraine today there are at least four major manufacturers of buses, jointly capable of covering the needs of the state in this form of transport.
“Buying Ukrainian public transport, state departments, companies and communities win three times. Firstly, they save on service, because the manufacturer is close by. Secondly, they get back more than 40% of their money spent in taxes. Thirdly (and most importantly) this way the State encourages investments and job creation in the country, not abroad”, summed up the MP.
Founded in 1994, “Cherkassy Bus” plant until now has been producing only small class buses, as well as other wheeled vehicles using Isuzu equipment.
According to the resource opendatabot, in 2022, the plant increased its net profit by almost 2.9 times to UAH 65.02 million, while its net income grew by 32.5% to UAH 842.29 million.
The Kiev-based “Investments for Development” LLC and Oleksandr Dorosh own 24.79% of the stock, Anna Suprun and Konstantin Vorushylin – 8.2498% each, another four natural persons (including the long-term director of the plant Vitalii Raabe) own 5.3999% of shares each.
The charter capital of Cherkassy Bus JSC is 162.96 mln hryvnia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with a delegation of politicians, businessmen and representatives of United States charities led by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The head of state noted the importance of such visits and meetings, which are a powerful signal of support for Ukrainians in our fight for freedom and democracy, the press service of the Office of the President reported Tuesday.
“I’m glad to see you have come with your friends,” the president said, addressing Mike Pompeo. – Comprehensive American support is very important to us.”
During the meeting, the head of state invited American business to actively invest in Ukraine. “We are open to this, we are ready to provide you with full assistance. It is very important for us,” he said.
Zelensky informed about business development opportunities in construction, agriculture, IT technology, etc. The president also emphasized the importance of continuing and strengthening defense assistance and joint development of defense technologies, taking into account the experience acquired by Ukraine during the war. “Invest in business, because business is what creates jobs. We are interested in people being able to find jobs and the budget getting revenue to strengthen our capabilities on the battlefield,” summarized the head of state.
A number of other topical issues were also discussed, in particular Ukraine’s movement to NATO, the importance of further strengthening the sanctions pressure on Russia. Zelenski noted the activities of American charitable organizations, whose representatives were present at the meeting, focused on helping displaced people, rebuilding destroyed housing stock, providing medical care, and providing drinking water and food.
U.S. online retailer Amazon plans to invest $35 billion by 2040 to open several data centers (data centers) in Virginia, which will create at least 1,000 jobs, Governor Glenn Youngkin said. He said a number of locations within the state are being considered for now, with a final decision to be made later, MT Newswires reported.
Amazon is one of the largest private employers in Virginia, where the first Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud data centers were established in 2006. In 2018, the company opened a second headquarters in Arlington, which is located in that state. AWS Director of Economic Development Roger Wener said the division has invested more than $35 billion in Virginia since 2006 and contributed nearly $7 billion to the state’s GRP. For the third quarter of 2022, AWS revenue rose 27.5% to $20.54 billion, while Amazon’s like-for-like total was up 15% to $127.1 billion.
The company’s capitalization has fallen nearly 33% in the past 12 months (to $992 billion), while the Nasdaq stock index is down just over 19%.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on French business to invest in the Ukrainian food industry.
Speaking by video link at the “Solidarity with the Ukrainian People” conference in Paris on Tuesday, Zelensky recalled that this year “through joint efforts we managed to stop the unfolding of the global food crisis.”
“We have already exported more than 13 million tons of grain. Thanks to our Grain from Ukraine initiative, we will help the poorest countries,” he said.
“But we also send humanitarian cargo to export, mostly raw materials, and we can send processed products. Right now there is a need to build a whole industry that will be export-oriented and definitely have consumers, and definitely give profit,” Zelensky said.
It would be right, he said, “if French business has already assessed the prospects and came to Ukraine. The same is in the energy, machine building, defense industry, transport and other industries.
