Ukraine completes debut large-privatization tender

Ukraine’s State Property Fund sold at a privatization
auction First Kyiv Machinery Plant, which was the first object of large
privatization sold under the new law adopted in early 2018.
The asset was sold for UAH 1.429 bln (USD 54 mln), or 3% above its starting
price. The winner, out of three tender participants, was a local company,
General Commerce ltd. According epravda.com.ua news site, the company has ties
with real estate businessmen Vasyl Khmelnytsky and Andriy Ivanov.

The Plant used to be a military-industrial holding.
Its key asset is land plots of about 35 hectares close to central Kyiv (where
its main production premises are located), which are suitable for real estate
development. It has other machinery and recreational assets throughout Ukraine.

Alexander Paraschiy: The tender price implies the asset was sold at about USD 2.1 mln per
hectare of land plot in Kyiv (if ignoring other property), which does not look
much expensive. Anyway, it is good that the big privatization has been started,
after more than three years of delays. This allows us to expect that more big
privatization tenders will follow soon.