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The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine has ruled to recognize Ukrainian Railways (RAILUA) as the legal successor to the debt obligations of State Enterprise Donetska Railway​, its former Donbas division, the company reported on June 25. The company also warned the court ruling threatens Ukraine’s security and the stability of its railway industry operations. In particular, Ukrainian Railways claims that the court’s ruling will lead to the company being obligated to repay Donetska Railway’s liabilities, which exceed UAH6.5bn. At the same time, the company has no access to the assets of Donetska Railway, most of, which are located on the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (known as Donbas). The company warned that such additional obligations jeopardize its financial situation and liquidity, which are otherwise weak due to the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, the company called upon all government bodies to take measures to protect the interests of the company and the state, among others, by initiating legislative changes that will allow for settling this issue.​ ​Recall, Joint Stock Company Ukrainian Railways was created in October 2015 to consolidate the assets and operations of six regional railway companies, including a small part of Donetska Railway, which was located outside the occupied territories. Since then, Ukrainian legislation was amended several times to protect Ukrainian Railways from the possible enforcement of paying the liabilities of Donetska Railway up until it regains full control over all the Donetska assets.
Dragon Capital has bought its 11th logistics facility in Ukraine, ​a pharmaceutical warehouse complex, 10 km west of Kyiv’s Ring Road. The price was not disclosed for the 13,800 square meter Falbi complex bought at auction for the settlement of nonperforming loan from Ukreximbank. “Today, warehousing space accounts for almost half of our commercial real estate portfolio,” Tomas Fiala, CEO of Dragon Capital, said of a portfolio with a total area of 335,000 sq. m. The Falbi complex is located in Svyatopetrivske, 13 km south of the Zhytomyr highway.
Boryspil is cutting its staff by 20%, to 3,000​, Ryabkin says. Terminal F will only reopen when passenger volumes return to 1mn a month, the level of 2018. He predicts Ukraine’s air passenger flows will only return to 2019 levels at the end of 2023.
Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company wants to raise up to €200mn by 2025 to modernize its Soviet-era cargo and passenger fleet​, Oleksiy Khomiakov, acting board chairman of the Izmail-based company, tells Interfax-Ukraine. He said the state company is negotiating with institutional investors interested in buying modern, environmentally friendly barges, tugs and cruise ships. In recent years, Chinese companies have express interested in investing in the shipping company, which plies 2,000 km of Danube waters, from the Black Sea to southern Germany.
9.2.5​ Retail corporate news
McDonald's intends to open 5 new restaurants in Ukraine in 2020 and ramp up the development of the chain in 2021. ​"We postponed restaurant revamping, focusing our efforts on opening more new restaurants," Yulia Badritdinova, general director of McDonald's Ukraine, was quoted as saying by Interfax Ukraine on June 2. "We haven't cut back on plans for new openings, but we are shifting our priorities based on the situation that's taking place at
73​ UKRAINE Country Report​ July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com