Dmytro Sennychenko told the business community about the results of the State Property Fund in 2020 and new investment opportunities in 2021

On January 13, 2021 Dmytro Sennychenko, the Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, took part in a meeting with members of the International Council of Business Associations and Chambers in Ukraine (ICBAC), dedicated to the discussion of a comprehensive bill to promote investment through privatization.

During the event organized with the participation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, the Chairman of the State Property Fund stressed the importance of privatization for the economy. So, today the state owns more than 3600 enterprises, of which every fifth is unprofitable, and all of them are managed by 96 governing bodies. The results of such system - losses of more than 170 billion UAH in 2019.

“An audit carried out by the State Property Fund found that 15.4% of assets are not used or are in the shadow lease. For clarity: today, an estimated 28 million square meters, which is about 400 Louvre museums, are empty or used inefficiently”, - said Dmytro Sennychenko.

He also informed the representatives of business associations about the already implemented changes in the privatization process, as well as about the initiatives of the State Property Fund, which are aimed at promoting investment.

It is about creating a special website with virtual data rooms, where everyone can read detailed information about the assets and make an informed decision to participate in privatization auctions, and about establishing contact with potential investors.

“Everyone knows everything” is the main principle we follow when providing information about privatization objects. And it gave real results - even in such a difficult, due to the coronavirus, in 2020 privatization auctions attracted 10 times more funds than in 2018 and 5 times more than in 2019, “- said the Chairman of the State Property Fund.

At the same time, there are currently obstacles to transparent privatization, for example due to inefficient bureaucratic procedures the process of preparing an asset from decision to auction takes an average of 11 months, and sabotage of the transfer of assets for privatization leads to losses for the Ukrainian economy due to corruption and inefficient management.

To overcome such obstacles, with the active participation of the State Property Fund and a group of MPs, a draft of law on investment promotion through privatization was developed, which was expertly discussed and supported by the National Reform Council under the President of Ukraine and after approval by the Cabinet of Ministers was sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

This draft of law is designed to change and simplify the privatization process and increase the protection of investors' rights in the interests of the State. It should stimulate the attraction of domestic and foreign investments through privatization by restoring the confidence of potential investors, promote the creation of new jobs and the growth of Ukraine's economy.

The Chairman of the State Property Fund also presented to the participants of the event the privatization calendar for 2021, which contains the top 100 promising assets for investment out of more than 500, which will be put up for transparent privatization auctions this year.

“The 2021 privatization calendar contains the top 100 large and medium-sized assets to attract investment, and the first of the large-scale privatization objects will be put up for auction by JSC “United Mining and Chemical Company”, which is comparable in scale to the privatization of Kryvyi Rih. But for this we need to unblock a large-scale privatization, and we are waiting for the relevant decision of the Verkhovna Rada,” - Dmytro Sennychenko said.

For reference: The International Council of Business Associations and Chambers in Ukraine (ICBAC) is part of the constant informing of Ukrainian and foreign business about the progress of privatization and its prospects. The International Council of Business Associations and Chambers in Ukraine (ICBAC) represents 9 bilateral chambers of commerce and industry and business associations, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, which together unite more than 9,000 enterprises.