The cabinet’s newsmakers decided to make last Monday less “blue” by announcing some breath-taking plans for privatization. The concertmaster was Mykhailo Chechetov, Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (FDMU).
The news that he announced was quite substantial. Ukraine’s number-one property seller said that UAH 770.3 million have been transferred to the central budget from the sale of a 60% interest in the public joint stock company Krasnodonvuhillia. It was purchased by the PJC Avdiyivsky Coke Chemical Plant, located in Luhansk oblast, just like the coal holding company (with two major Donetsk companies owning over 80% interest in the plant). According to the contract of sale, the coke plant is also undertaking to invest over a period of five years one billion hryvnias in Krasnodonvuhillia’s production and social sphere. The unsuccessful bidder, the Alchevsky Coke Chemical Plant (also based in Luhansk) offered slightly more than UAH 705 million, practically at the starting price level (UAH 705.136 million).
To date, this year’s privatization campaign has recorded UAH 9.3 billion, unless the government instructs otherwise, and the chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (FDMU) says all such instructions will definitely be carried out. For the time being, Mykhailo Chechetov says that the State Property Fund does not intend to sell any large project before the end of the year.
The number-one privatizer further declared that he is sure of Viktor Yanukovych’s victory in the runoff (he did not emphasize this, but sounded confident). When asked by journalists whether there was a threat of Donetsk companies monopolizing the leading Ukrainian industries, Chechetov referred to the laws dealing with competition, adding that the Antimonopoly Committee was there to protect them. Moreover, the State Property Fund has not sold a single project without this committee’s knowledge and consent. In a telephone interview with The Day that same night, he said that, in keeping with cabinet’s resolution, Odesa’s portside factory will not be sold this year or even the next, and will remain public property. In other words, the State Property Fund may have to sell off some small projects to carry out the privatization plan included in the budget bill.
Mykola Azarov, First Vice- Premier, Minister of Finance, and Chairman of the Ukrtelecom Privatization Commission, had altogether different news to share. He said the government plans to put Ukrtelecom up for privatization after the presidential elections. Ukrtelecom must be privatized, he stated unequivocally, “Large sums must be invested, so that we can have a modern European telecommunications system. Ukrtelecom will be privatized after the elections, and I think we are making no secret of this.” Azarov added that the government intends on having a transparent tender, obtaining the largest possible price, and making sure the company has a “serious, respectable investor.” Ukraine’s number-one financier did not specify Ukrtelecom’s selling price. All he said was, “Let’s not get ahead of the story. There are experts’ evaluations and bidding procedures to observe.”
Fuel and Energy Minister Serhiy Tulub was another newsmaker. His ministry has jurisdiction over the holding company just sold by the state. He believes the results of the tender to sell Krasnodonvuhillia are extremely successful. “It’s good that the privatization process has begun,” said Serhiy Tulub, adding that Pavlohradvuhillia Co. (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) was successfully sold this year. According to the minister, the plan to create the state joint stock company Vuhillia Ukrainy envisages further sales of shares and then sales of separate structural components.
But let’s get back to the head of the privatization agency. In a burst of inspired polemicism, he told the press conference that the media would also be straightened out; that monopolies would be liquidated there — naturally, if the State Property Fund is instructed to do so.
