Court blocks cabinet attempt to change Centrenergo managers

A court ruled on Feb. 28 to prohibit the State
Property Fund, the nominal owner of 78.3% of the shares of power generator
Centrenergo (CEEN UK), from dismissing any member of its management board,
including acting CEO Volodymyr Potapenko, the company reported on its website
on Feb. 28.

Recall, PM Oleksiy Honcharuk announced on Feb. 26 the
appointment of a new top manager at Centrenergo, while the strana.ua news site
reported that this manager was not allowed to enter the
company’s office. Potapenko, appointed as
Centrenergo’s top manager in July 2019, was characterized by tycoon Ihor
Kolomoisky in his August interview as a “professional and understandable”
person.

Recall, the dt.ua news site reported on Feb. 28 that
President Zelensky criticized PM Honcharuk’s decision to remove the
Kolomoisky-controlled manager at Centrenergo, triggering a conflict between the
top officials that led to the president’s decision to initiate the
cabinet’s replacement this week.

Alexander Paraschiy: We were too optimistic last week to expect any changes in Centrenergo
top management and the company’s policy, primarily because we did not expect
that Zelensky will resist the cabinet’s initiative to replace the
Kolomoisky-controlled management. That said, we are sticking with our negative
view on Centrenergo’s fundamentals and its near-term privatization prospects,
expressed in our September note on the power generator.