The following is the Jan. 29, 2025 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, announced plans on Jan. 22 to invest 450 million euros ($468 million) in expanding the Tyligulska Wind Power Plant near the Black Sea coast.
"The commitment is the largest private sector investment in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and the biggest ever private investment in Ukraine’s energy sector," DTEK said in a press release.
DTEK, owned by Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov, said it had reached a deal with lenders to purchase 64 wind turbines from Danish manufacturer Vestas, a world leader in turbine production.
Of the 450-million-euro investment, 370 million euros ($385 million) will be financed through bank loans guaranteed by Denmark's state-owned Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), with the remainder funded by DTEK.
The project is expected to be completed by late 2026 and generate 1.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually, enough to power 900,000 Ukrainian homes.
The big picture: DTEK lost nearly 90% of its generation capacity in 2024 due to Russia's aerial attacks targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Wind turbines are harder to target than DTEK’s large thermal power generation plants.
The company has also largely been shut out from financing from large institutional investors wary of its owner, Akhmetov. EIFO lending to DTEK could be a signal to other would-be investors.
A big sale in the making
Kyivstar — Ukraine’s leading mobile operator that’s been in the news lately over its parent company VEON’s plans to list Kyivstar on Nasdaq — is looking to buy Ukraine’s favorite ride-hailing service Uklon.
Forbes Ukraine reported on Jan. 27 that Kyivstar had filed an application with Ukraine’s antitrust regulator to purchase Uklon. The deal could be valued at anywhere from $40–80 million, according to Forbes’s analysis.
What’s in it for the two companies? Uklon has had trouble expanding into other markets, unable to compete with ride-hailing giants like Uber and Bolt. The company launched in Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, but exited each market except for Uzbekistan.
Veon, Kyivstar’s parent company, has capital, expertise, and access to other markets where it also operates, one market insider told Forbes. The company also owns mobile operators in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Uklon ended the first three quarters with Hr 1.2 billion in revenue, or $28 million, twice as much for the same period of 2023. Kyivstar would get a growing company, and be able to offer its 23 million subscribers special offers and discounts on trips, Vitaliy Laptenok from Flyer One Ventures told Forbes — potentially incentivizing even more people to use the app.
Back on the market?
After being nationalized at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion over their Russian ownership, Ukraine is preparing to sell Sense Bank and Ukrnafta, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told Forbes Ukraine in an interview published last week.
“We are ready to privatize Sense Bank, as well as consider the possibility of selling a stake in Ukrnafta, which is in dire need of modernization,” Svyrydenko said. Discussions on Ukrnafta are still in their infancy, she said.
The Ukrainian government took control of Sense Bank in the summer of 2023 after its owner, Mikhail Fridman, was placed under sanctions in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine’s government nationalized oil producer Ukrnafta in November 2022, seizing it from its shareholders, infamous oligarch and former PrivatBank owner Ihor Kolomoisky and his business partner Hennadiy Boholyubov.
What’s next? It’s unclear. Selling Ukrnafta’s stakes or Sense Bank quickly is another story, as there are no reported serious buyers. Privatization has also been a historically slow process in Ukraine, where many of the country’s biggest banks are state-owned, and also in “dire need” of being privatized.
Foreign investor spotlight
Ukraine’s Central Bank gave the green light to VisionFund Ukraine to operate as a non-bank financial institution, allowing it to start lending in the country, the company said in a statement last week.
VisionFund Ukraine is part of the global VisionFund network, which provides financial inclusion services in 28 countries across four continents, including loans, savings, insurance, and financial education.
Over the past 21 years, VisionFund has lent $12.2 billion through 21.5 million loans. It works mostly with small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas.
"I look forward to working with entrepreneurs and partners in the financial inclusion ecosystem. We plan to enhance entrepreneurship in Ukraine by financing small businesses to support economic recovery and capacity building of communities and help families achieve financial stability," said Wesley Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of VisionFund Ukraine.
“We start now as we understand how important fast recovery is and how timely and vital access to capital and inclusive finance is for small businesses in Ukraine,” he added.
The big picture: Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of Ukraine’s economy. But access to capital to grow businesses in Ukraine, where borrowing money is expensive, remains a big barrier for many entrepreneurs.
Davos Digest
The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is over and it’s safe to say that in addition to the inauguration of Donald Trump, Ukraine captured a lot of the spotlight this year as talks to end the war gain momentum.
An end to the fighting could usher in a gold rush of investment into Ukraine, piquing the interest — or at least curiosity — of foreign investors.
The Kyiv Independent has lots of interesting insights from the forum this year, including an op-ed from Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, and an interview with Ukraine House Davos’s director, Ulyana Khromyak.
3 key takeaways from Davos from Ukraine’s economy minister
‘An opportunity, not a burden:’ Ukraine House Davos’s message for world leaders, investors
Davos heard Ukraine’s call, but will Europe seize the opportunity?
What else is happening
Interpipe invests $16 million in its front-line Nikopol plant since start of full-scale invasion
Steel pipe and railway wheel producer Interpipe, owned by Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, has invested $16 million in the development of its assets and new equipment at the plant in Nikopol, Oleksandr Garkavy, director of the Interpipe railway products division said in Davos. Russian forces are located just across the Dnipro River from Nikopol and the city is subject to near-daily attacks.
Ukraine’s poultry producer giant MHP experiences ‘largest hack in history of company.’
MHP wrote on its official Facebook page on Jan. 22 that the hack brought down its IT infrastructure, affecting shipments. The company is Ukraine’s largest poultry producer, has over 30,000 employees, and finished 2023 with a revenue of over $3 billion. The hack follows a large-scale Russian hack on Ukrainian government databases in December of last year.
Nova Poshta delivers a record 480 million packages and cargo in 2024
Ukraine’s leading private postal service Nova Poshta also reported that it delivered 19 million international parcels, an 86% increase from the year before, as it continues its expansion across the European continent. The company recently announced it had opened its first branch in Manchester, England, adding to its two London locations in the country. Nova Poshta, known abroad as Nova Post, is now active in 15 countries in Europe.
Ukraine's central bank raises key policy rate to 14.5% due to inflation
"In order to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange market, keep expectations under control, and gradually bring inflation to the 5% target on the policy horizon, the (central bank) board decided to raise the key policy rate by 1% to 14.5%," the bank's Chairman Andrii Pyshnyi said in a press briefing on Jan. 24.
Ukrainian business association calls on government to implement ‘targeted air raid sirens’ to limit disruptions to business activity
Air raid alerts warning of Russian attacks in Ukraine by oblast, with the exception of the city of Kyiv, which has its own alerts separate from Kyiv Oblast, “leads to unjustified work interruptions even when there is no immediate threat in the area where the business is located,” the European Business Association said. According to the association's members, downtime at enterprises can reach up to 50% of working time, causing disruptions to production plans and increased operating costs, undermining export capabilities. It’s unclear how Ukraine’s Air Force would even be able to change the alert system to target specific regions instead of entire oblasts.
Abbey Fenbert
