Page 55 - UKRRptApr19

Ukraine's battered Odesa Port Plant (OPP) almost halved net loss year-on-year to UAH750.457mn in 2018 , according to the agenda of a meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 25 published by local business media on March 11. Ukrainian and foreign investors have had no interest in privatisation of OPP over the past years due to its disastrous financial conditions. In 2018, the starting price in the privatisation of OPP has been cut by 10-times to $54mn, however, even now there are serious doubts that the government will be able to sell its 99.567% stake in OPP. In December 2017, Kyiv failed to sell the stake via a second privatisation tender. Potential buyers must reckon with repaying $251mn in debt to Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem company, $32mn to banks and traders for previously supplied natural gas, and invest at least another $100mn in restarting the plant's operations, which will demand further large volumes of gas. Another reason for the failure of the privatisation is the conflict with the Nortima company, controlled by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Nortima previously threatened to block the OPP privatisation, saying any sale deal would be regarded as a purchase of stolen assets following a 2009 tender in which it outbid two rivals with an offer of $600mn at the exchange rate at the time. In February, head of Odesa regional state administration Maksym Stepanov said that OPP could be transferred to the management or lease to the nation's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz or the Agrarian Fund. According to the official, such measures will contribute to the launch of the plant "not for a month or two, but for a long time", Interfax news agency reported on February 22. Stepanov added that possible transfer of the plant to the management or lease to the Agrarian Fund was discussed with the government in Kyiv earlier this month.
55 UKRAINE Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com