The Ukrainian commercial depositary Interregional Stock Union announced yesterday it will undergo due diligence, and has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers and Saenko Kharenko, a domestic law firm, to conduct the procedure. According to Mykola Shvetsov, CEO of ISU, legal due diligence will take approximately one month, while the appraisal of the company’s assets – not less than half of a year. Volodymyr Verbyany: This is another step by the Interregional Stock Union to merge with the Ukrainian Depositary of Securities, also a commercial depositary company. The merger would significantly increase the chances of the combined Interregional Stock Union/Ukrainian Depositary of Securities, controlled both by the state and market players, of becoming the true central depositary in Ukraine. Meanwhile, its rival, the National Depositary of Ukraine, is controlled only by the state and its functions are comparatively limited.