GENERICO.ruЭкономикаUkraine announced the sale of strategic state-owned enterprises

Ukraine announced the sale of strategic state-owned enterprises

Like in the nineties, but without vouchers

Square is sold in parts and inexpensively. Ukrainian officials decided to arrange a final sale of large state property, including Soviet giant factories, as well as pharmacology and energy enterprises. They will sell at discounted prices. As the saying goes, «even a tuft of wool from a black sheep.»

This is explained by the desire to get at least some additional profit to the budget. However, the gain can reach a relatively small amount of $400 million.

Like the nineties, but without vouchers

Foreign media report that Ukrainian officials are looking for investors willing to invest in the country's economy. To do this, they are invited to purchase strategic assets. According to Rustem Umerov, head of the State Property Fund of Nezalezhnaya, «through the sale of state-owned companies, Ukraine could earn more than $400 million and another $190 million could come from renting agricultural land.» What is Ukraine ready to sacrifice for the sake of profit?  

Most of the sold enterprises somehow appear in corruption scandals, they were repeatedly tried to be privatized, but each time these attempts failed.

For example, the pharmaceutical plant «Indar» in Kyiv, which produces about 60% of Ukrainian insulin and has stable access to foreign markets. “Manufacturer of quality drugs with a full cycle. All technologies are proprietary, – described by one of the employees. The plant, the majority of whose shares are owned by the state, and the rest — Polish company, back in 2011, got into a scandal due to an attempted raider takeover. With a request to prevent its privatization, the workers of the plant then even turned to President Viktor Yanukovych. What created a public outcry and helped save from capture, but not from new corruption scandals – because of the embezzlement by the top management of the huge funds and property of Indar.

Another strategic enterprise that will go up for auction is called the United Mining and Chemical Company. It is Europe's largest producer of ilmenite, zirconium and rutile concentrates, as well as the largest titanium ore miner in the world. In 2020, its head Peter Davis rated OGCC as a tidbit for foreign investors.

The factory has serious branches: according to media reports, in 2019 the company owned the Volnogorsk mining and metallurgical plant in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Irshansky mining and processing plant in Zhytomyr region. Nezalezhnaya repeatedly tried to sell OGCC, putting it up for auction and announcing auctions for the sale of property, but privatization was frustrated and postponed each time. A similar situation occurred with the energy generating company «Centrenergo», which previously could not be sold and is now being put up for auction again.

Privatization will affect large metallurgical enterprises in Zaporozhye. Zaporozhye Aluminum Production Plant and Zaporozhye Titanium and Magnesium Plant – the only producer of sponge titanium in Europe. A year ago, by a court decision, half of the shares of this plant became the property of Ukraine from billionaire Dmitry Firtash. 

One of the most important in the list of the country's assets going for sale, according to experts, can be considered the Odessa Port Plant – producer of ammonia, carbamide, liquid nitrogen. The plant, which at various times was controlled by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has been trying to be privatized since the 90s, but, as in the situation with OGCC, the sale failed every time, including due to the lack of buyers for the troubled enterprise, the price of which in the media was estimated at two billion dollars.

Put the enterprises up for auction once again – not difficult. The question is: who is ready to invest in controversial assets in the current conditions? In the media and political Telegram channels, one of the world's largest international investment companies is called «BlackRock», whose headquarters is located in New York, in Nezalezhnaya Americans work through a network of subsidiaries. The fact that President Zelensky signed an agreement with BlackRock about the «restoration of Ukraine», it became known last year.

But isn't an investor risking buying factories in a country with a weak economy, political instability and participation in hostilities? “If the plant is destroyed even partially, you can always demand compensation from those who destroyed it. International law and all. And you can also resell an important infrastructure facility for three times more expensive. Buy for nothing, and then sell to the country that claims the territory or the plant itself. You buy for 100 million hryvnias, the power changes – shouting with a good obscenity that the plant is suffering losses (or blackmailing the other side) – you sell for 500 million profit», – writes the Telegram channel «Typical Odessa».  

In the opinion, the enterprises will leave with a residual value close to zero, and therefore the buyer has nothing to worry about.   

«We remember what happened in the 90s, – told «MK» expert. – If the enterprise is unnecessary, then you can simply destroy it, cut the equipment into scrap metal and forget about this asset, like a nightmare. And if the enterprise is necessary, then it will work.

– As far as I understand, in principle, no one asked the Ukrainian leadership whether they want to make a profit or not. This is an element of Ukraine's retribution for the European integration course and for the assistance it receives from NATO. You need to pay somehow, but there is no money, so you pay with what you have – land, businesses. There are enough people willing to buy.

– Regular privatization. The way we know it. Like in the 90s, but without vouchers.

ОСТАВЬТЕ ОТВЕТ

Пожалуйста, введите ваш комментарий!
пожалуйста, введите ваше имя здесь

Последнее в категории