Instead of a factory, you buy a ticket to the war: what’s wrong with the privatization of the scandalous “Bolshevik”

At the end of October, within the framework of the so-called “Big Privatization”, the old Bolshevik plant in the very center of the capital was sold.

Oddly enough, only three unknown construction companies came to the auction for such an interesting lot, and the starting price changed by only 2%. This angered society, and the State Property Fund was accused of opacity and corruption.

In the scandal around the “Bolshevik”, the Kyiv Post previously sorted out in detail, explaining why every foreign investor can perceive this as evidence of corruption.

Non-market price

According to the newspaper, with a fair sale, the market price could be three times higher than the initial one, because Bolshevik is located in one of the central districts of Kiev.

According to General Director of the consulting company Colliers Alexander Nosachenko, on an area of ​​650-750 thousand square meters, you can build residential real estate, offices, hotels, hospitals or a fitness center.

Scare off investors

Oddly enough, instead of attracting different investors, such a promising site only frightened them away.

“The State Property Fund reported that more than 15 potential investors have shown interest in this asset, but, according to experts, there are actually less than five of them,” the newspaper wrote.

In fact only three unknown companies participated in the auction, two of which were related.

“Nobody knows what they are buying or who they are going to war with,” said Brian Best, head of investment banking at Dragon Capital.

After the auction, the investment banker Sergei Fursa said this, according to him, the buyers acted according to the old scheme from the 90s.

“The state’s fault is that no one came to this competition at all, since investors did not feel safe in buying this plant. Other potential buyers understood that buying this plant, they are buying a ticket to the war,” Fursa said.

What is the scheme

According to the Kyiv Post, back in 2019, five workshops on the territory of the plant were illegally sold to some private companies and leased until 2035.

All these companies are associated with the former politician Vasily Khmelnitsky and his business partner Andrey Ivanov.

In February, the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared illegal the sale of these workshops and decided to return them under state control.

However, on October 12, the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal and this frightened off potential buyers.

One week before the auction, On October 20, the court overturned its own decision, citing new circumstances … This was the last day that buyers could apply.

“This does not fundamentally change anything. For the auction to work, the fund must first understand the legal part of the issue, go through the appeals and cassation proceedings and ensure the final legal victory. Only after that the auction can be held,” Nosachenko said.

The expert was also surprised that the top leadership of the country did not pay attention to this situation at all.

What did the State Property Fund answer

The head of the Fund, Dmitry Sennichenko, said that he does not see any serious legal problems with the Bolshevik plant, since the auction will take place on time.

“We tell all potential private investors that there is nothing to fear. The winner of the auction will calmly bring these court cases to their logical conclusion,” Sennichenko said.

Who won this war?

All experts unanimously agreed that “Only one market player can benefit from this fabricated chaos – the Khmelnitsky-Ivanov duet.”

The source of the publication also said that not a single real participant is participating in the auction.

“They are either companies directly related to Khmelnitsky and Ivanov, or have close business relations with them,” the source said. .

Finally, all potential participants left the auction, including the owner of the Kyiv Post Adnan Kivan, whose construction company KADORR planned to invest up to $ 740 million in the project after the auction.

Earlier, Segodnya also wrote that the People’s Deputy from European Solidarity Nina Yuzhanina announced that the government deliberately accelerated the sale procedure in order to get at least some funds for the budget

Our expert Sergey Fursa also said that this auction is more like a typical “agreement”.