KYIV

Ukraine has sold OdessaVinProm, the oldest wine-producing company in the country, and plans to put more wineries on sale as a part of the large-scale privatisation of state-owned companies that has been resumed earlier this year.

The privatisation process was suspended a year ago over the COVID pandemic and officials said earlier this year that they hoped selloffs could raise as much as 12 billion hryvnias ($430 million).

The company which produces wines under “French Boulevard” and “Robert Guliev” trademarks, was sold for 234.9 million hryvnias ($8.8 million) to Ukrainian company Kaplor 7 LLC, the State Property Fund said. It said that 12 companies took part in the auction, and the starting price of the asset increased more than three-fold from 65 million hryvnias.

The investor is obliged to maintain the profile of the activity for three years and conclude a protection agreement for the building belonging to the company in 1895. OdessaVinProm was established in 1857 by French winemaker Francois Nuevau.

The Fund plans to put up for auctions Kotovsky and Izmail wineries this year.

In October Ukraine will sell a major diamond processing plant, Vinnytsia Crystal Plant. The starting price is 90 million hryvnias.

Earlier this month, the state auction commission proposed a starting price of 1.398 billion hryvnias for the First Kyiv Machine Building Plant (known popularly as “Bolshevik” and founded in 1882). The plant has debts of more than 500 million hryvnias that, according to the auction conditions, should be prepared by the owner. In addition, investment in the amount of 57 million hryvnias will be needed for its repair and modernisation, local media reported, citing Dmytro Sennichenko, the head of State Property Fund, overseeing privatisations.

Another big state-owned enterprise, the United Mining and Chemical Company, has attracted interest from 18 domestic and international companies. The starting price for the largest titanium ore producer in Europe and the country’s most attractive asset so far has been set at $125 million.  The sale was rescheduled this month after it had to be postponed in August because potential buyers complained they had not been given sufficient time to prepare the necessary documents. Foreign interest has come from companies in the U.S., India, Japan, Australia, Estonia, Turkey, the UAE, Britain and Hong Kong.

In addition, the government included Turboatom, 75.22 percent of which is state-owned, and Electrotyazhmash Plant in the list of companies for privatisation. Both companies are based in the city of Kharkiv. Turboatom is the only Ukrainian manufacturer of turbine equipment for hydro, thermal, and nuclear power plants. Electrotyazhmash specialises in the production of powerful hydro generators, turbine generators for thermal power plants and nuclear power plants, electric motors for drives of rolling mills, mine hoists, traction electrical equipment for railway and urban transport.