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decades of being a privately controlled company. In particular, it is not clear what stake in the company will be nationalized (before 2017, Motor Sich was a local stock market blue chip with the largest free float in the local universe) and what compensation (if any) the current Chinese owners of a large stake will receive,” Paraschiy said.
“Theoretically, the nationalization could open an opportunity for minority investors in Motor Sich to sell their shares to the state as a new majority owner, but the prospects of such opportunity are not clear now,” said Paraschiy. “In any case, we believe it will be better for Motor Sich’s mid-term prospects if it gets any shareholder who will be responsible for controlling its operations.”
2.2 Ukraine’s PM lays out the five sticking points in Kyiv’s IMF talks
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal named the five main sticking points to restarting the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) $5bn Stand By Agreement (SBA) on March 10.
Ukraine received the first $2.1bn tranche last June after parliament signed off on the so-called Anti-Kolomoisky banking law that was signed on May 18 and prevented the de-nationalisation of the now state-owned bank and its return to its former owner oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.
A second tranche of $700mn was due to be paid out in the second half of last year, but after the Constitution Court nixed a raft of anti-corruption laws in November that had been put in place at the IMF’s insistence the fund de facto suspended the SBA programme, insisting the laws be re-enacted. A staff level assessment team reviewed Ukraine’s economy at the start of this year, but failed to sign off on restarting the SBA.
Shmyhal gave some more details of the state of the talks between Kyiv and the IMF, outlining the five main points that have snarled the relationship:
1) removing energy subsidies at the end of March;
2) agreeing with IMF on macroeconomic indicators for 2022-2023;
3) advancing judicial reforms, most notably concerning the High Council of Justice;
4) restoring criminal liability for public officials for not filing assets declaration or doing it improperly;
5) adopting a law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) resolving the outstanding inconsistencies with the constitution.
The first issues relates to a decision by the government to subsidise domestic heating tariffs “temporarily” during this year’s cold winter, reversing an earlier commitment by the government to set tariffs at market rates.
The second issue is already largely resolved after the government agreed to
7 UKRAINE Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com