HMO. Four privatization schemes

Ukraine does not have many objects left that miraculously escaped “wild” privatization in the late nineties – early 2000s and at the same time are of interest to serious investors. These, without any doubt, include OPP – Odessa Port Plant. However, in Ukraine, the habit of privatizing enterprises not for honest money, but with the help of fraudulent tenders and other schemes, has formed and continues to this day.

Odessa Port Plant is one of the most powerful chemical sectors not only in Ukraine, but also in the world. They have already tried to privatize it twice. In 2009 under Tymoshenko and in 2014 under Yatsenyuk. Both times privatization was suspended. This year, the same Yatsenyuk included it in the list of privatized enterprises. It may be privatized as early as next year, 2016. And then it began…

Dmitry Firtash

Firtash scheme

Dmitry Firtash is the longest-standing contender for the Odessa port; he has been pursuing this enterprise for several years now, since 2012. In principle, he can be called a “profile” oligarch. And the OPP would become the pearl of its petrochemical “crown”, which actually includes the largest enterprises such as Sumykhimprom, Stirol, large Estonian and Hungarian chemical enterprises.

The scheme with which Dmitry Vasilyevich decided to take over the enterprise can be called simple, but effective. His enterprises supplied natural gas to the OPP, so successfully that now the port facility owes RGK Trading, a company close to Ostchem, 5.9 billion hryvnia. According to this scheme, Firtash’s structures were actually taken away from the state at Sumykhimprom. That is, the enterprise nominally belongs to the State Property Fund, but in fact it is run by Firtash’s people through the Council of Creditors of the enterprise. And, apparently, this scheme has already begun to work for the HMOs; there have been courts that have made decisions favorable to the creditors (read Firtash). But then the state unexpectedly intervened in the person of Oschadbank, which allocated a credit line of 5 billion hryvnia to the Odessa Port Authority. And in addition, the Cabinet of Ministers removed Ostchem from gas suppliers and installed NJSC Naftogaz. Thus, the loan to Firtash and the loan to the state are equal, which means Dmitry Vasilyevich will no longer be able to have a controlling stake in the OPP Creditors Committee and will not have the opportunity to increase his debt. And the Cabinet of Ministers scheme came into effect.

Nikolay Martynenko

Martynenko-Pashinsky scheme

It all started with a statement from Yatsenyuk, where he announced fraudulent schemes to steal OPP by the Yanukovych-Firtash-Levochkin group. The latter did not remain in debt and replied that the group “Yatsenyuk – Martynenko – Pashinsky” wants to steal the plant. And then they began to “wet” each other through controlled media and another interesting scheme emerged.

It turned out that the above-mentioned representatives of the Popular Front brought their own man, a certain Sergei Perelom, into the Board of Directors, and that gas to the OPP is now supplied by a company close to Nikolai Martynenko – Transgazproekt. In addition, the manufactured goods are exported through another structure close to them, Newscope Estates Limited, registered in the UK, and

Sergey Pashinsky

the money goes through Diamantbank, which is close to Martynenko. In short, the scheme emerges as follows: its own chairman of the board, control over the sale of products, control of financial flows and control of energy supplies. In general, with such a scheme, the enterprise does not need to be privatized, it is already actually controlled by three people – Nikolai Martynenko oversees the financial and economic part, Sergei Pashinsky oversees the legal part, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk provides the state “roof”. And everything would be fine with this triumvirate. And somehow they would have fought off Firtash, especially since these are far from the best times in the oligarch’s life. But almost simultaneously with them, people close to President Petro Poroshenko appeared at the plant.

Scheme Adamovsky-Granovsky

This scheme has not yet come into effect and it is still difficult to judge what it is intended to be. Moreover, it is actively opposed by those who control the enterprise today. This is evidenced by constant “leaks” in the media. But some influential people are definitely trying to pull it off, and these people are close to the current president.

Alexander Granovsky and Andrey Adamovsky

Even at the very beginning, when the so-called “Martynyuk-Pashinsky group” introduced the above-mentioned Sergei Perelom to the Board of Directors, this appointment was challenged in court by a deputy from the presidential faction Sergei Khlan. And not so long ago, information appeared in the press about a certain Hong Kong company ExpoTradeGlobal Limited. Somehow, she managed to squeeze out the above-mentioned Newscope Estates Limited and conclude a contract for the supply of all (!) HMO products. With the help of PR and administrative resources, the Hong Kong “dummy” was moved away from contracts, perhaps temporarily. But in this regard, the names of those who stood behind it surfaced. The performer was a businessman Andrey Adamovskyfamiliar from the Sky Mall scandal. And his “roof” in power was provided by Alexander Granovsky, a deputy of the Kyiv City State Administration from the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” (not to be confused with businessman Alexander Granovsky, a partner of Boris Kaufman). And it was he who “pressed” the director of the plant, Valery Gorbatko, who signed the contract. It is not yet very clear whether this scheme is just a way to snatch money from the plant or a far-reaching scheme for its “privatization” in the interests of people close to Poroshenko. However, we will see this in the near future; neither Adamovsky nor his people in the management of the enterprise have gone anywhere.

Igor Kolomoisky

Kolomoisky’s scheme

Igor Valerievich almost bought an OPP once already in 2009.

It is not entirely clear who exactly prevented him then, the then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko or the Constitutional Court, most likely both had a hand. But he had the opportunity to carry out his “scheme”.

Having heard that the Odessa Port Plant was again being put up for privatization, Igor Kolomoisky publicly stated that he was counting on the priority right to purchase. The head of the State Property Fund, Igor Bilous, immediately declared that there were no priorities, even for a respected oligarch. But Kolomoisky did not object to him, which is not at all like him. In fact, he is silent very correctly. His company Nortima has already filed a lawsuit, demanding that the 2009 OPP privatization competition be recognized as valid. It’s not a fact that Privat needs an HMO. But it’s a fact that Kolomoisky can ruin the life of anyone who wins a competition or support someone who loses, or… in general, with Igor Valerievich’s combinatory talents, the prospects open up very broad.

This war is still not over. There are both “presidential” and “Kabminov’s” ones at the plant. Firtash remembers how much they owe him, and Kolomoisky is also walking around somewhere nearby. And although the privatization of the HMO was postponed again, it cannot be postponed forever. This means that in the near future we will see the most interesting battles. And they have already spilled into the public sphere. So, let’s stock up on popcorn.

Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info