Top entrepreneurs offer suggestions, vent frustrations at Concorde Capital investment conference

In a rare event, Concorde Capital investment company
gathered several of Ukraine’s biggest businessmen for the “Game of Thrones:
Final Season?” international investment conference held on May 16 in Kyiv, at
which they vented their frustration with the outgoing Presidential
Administration and offered suggestions for the new leadership. Any new
government needs to work on improving the Ukrainian market’s liberalization,
privatization and professionalism, said Kostyantyn Zhevago, the founder and CEO
of Ferrexpo (FXPO LN). Zhevago criticized the Poroshenko administration for
failing to conduct any large privatization of a state enterprise, which he said
is an embarrassment. Nor did the Poroshenko administration conduct any
large-scale liberalization of the market, which he attributed to its desire to
maintain corruption. 

In his turn, Oleg Bakhmatyuk, the founder and CEO of
Ukrlandfarming (UKRLAN) and Avangardco (AVGR LI, AVINPU), said the current
trade conflict between the U.S. and China creates enormous opportunities for
Ukraine. However, Ukraine needs to join the current wave in the West of
governments being more involved in managing and protecting their economies. The
key question for Ukraine is how to launch the banking system so that it works
for the real sector.

A positive tone was struck by Serhiy Tihipko, the
founder and CEO of the TAS group of companies that has a wide scope of
investments in Ukraine that includes railcar manufacturing and insurance.
Tihipko said he’s buying assets throughout Ukraine because they’re inexpensive
and many offer nice returns. The value of Ukraine’s assets will grow once GDP
growth exceeds 5% yoy. Most of business is satisfied that a new president is
taking power, he said, but “one or two bad steps and everything can change
quickly.”

In his turn, MHP (MHPC LI, MHPSA) founder and CEO
Yuriy Kosyuk took pride in the fact that about 30% of Ukraine’s GDP consists of
agriculture, attributing that figure not to Ukraine’s deindustrialization, as
alleged by Zhevago, but the high pace of modernization and development of
Ukrainian farming.