Odesa Portside state stake valued at USD 54 mln, deputy CEO says

The evaluation of the starting price for the privatization
tender of nitrogen fertilizer producer Odesa Portside Plant has been completed,
producing a value of USD 54 mln for the state stake, deputy CEO Mykola
Schurikov wrote in his blog on May 2, without stating who performed the work.
He wrote that the State Property Fund has all the documents necessary to start
the plant’s privatization, claiming that the Cabinet is postponing its decision
to privatize the plant. Schurikov also confirmed that the plant’s production
was stopped in late April due to interrupted natural gas supply. In recent
months, the plant has been working on a tolling scheme, and now it’s working to
find a new tolling provider.

Recall, Ukraine made two unsuccessful attempts to
privatize a 99.6% stake in Odesa Portside in July 2016 (at a USD 526 mln
starting price) and in December 2016 (at a USD 200 mln starting price). Another
attempt to sell the plant was scheduled for May 2018, providing Ukraine’s
Cabinet grants a permit for the sale. Cabinet’s approval of a list of large
assets for privatization had been scheduled for Apr. 27, according to the State
Property Fund head, but then was reportedly postponed for the second week of
May.

Alexander Paraschiy: We do not
believe the government will give the green light for the sale of Odesa Portside
at a USD 54 mln starting price. Besides representing a big failure (as it’s
almost ten times less than the price offered two years ago), it’s unlikely that
there will a bidder nonetheless, considering that the company’s debts and
working capital needs imply total investment needs into the plant of over USD
350 mln. Therefore, most likely, the plant’s sale will be postponed to 2020, at
the earliest.