SPF Announces Starting Price For Odesa Portside Plant

On Friday State Property Fund (SPF) has announced the initial price for 99.52% of Odessa Portside Plant (OPP) of UAH 1,444.2 mln (USD 286 mln). According to SPF head Valentina Semenyuk the auction will take place in September at the latest. Earlier she said she expected the plant to be sold for at least USD 400 mln. According to a local daily, four bidders have already confirmed their interest: Ukrnafta (UNAF: SELL), Stirol (STIR: SELL), Azot Cherkasy (AZOT: Susp), and IBE Trade (affiliated with Azot Severodonetsk). The Odessa Portside Plant is the second largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in Ukraine and the largest producer of urea. The company is located in the port city of Yuzhny, near Odessa and is connected to the Tolliatti (Russia)-Yuzhny ammonia pipeline.