Business Aquarium : President takes on DTEK, Kolomoisky takes revenge for PrivatBank

Oleg Gavrysh

Deputy Chief Editor, The Page

As usual, on Tuesdays, I want to let you in on unofficial news and conjecture about well-publicized and nondescript events in Ukraine 's corporate world, Welcome to our business environment, to our aquarium. Here everyone knows everything about everyone, and sometimes more than we would like.

While the summer weekend lasts and the business is in a state of near coma, the team of Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of politicians have launched a large-scale attack on their enemies.

The first story is connected with the statement of two people 's deputies close to Ihor Kolomoisky – Oleksandr Dubinin (former head of Dniproazot) and Vitalii Kuprii (UKROP representative). These gentlemen demanded that the NABU institute criminal proceedings on the fact of embezzlement by the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine. Kolomoisky’s representatives said the NBU’s payment to detective company Kroll for investigating how money was withdrawn from PrivatBank was a "waste." In addition, the members of parliament said the NBU’s contract with the law firm Alix Partners, as well as payment of the court fee after the lawsuit against PwC, was a waste. Curiously, according to , the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has launched an investigation into their allegations. The case smacks of political pressure, and it is obvious that Kolomoisky’s deputies are behind it.

One of the first people Zelensky (or rather, his entourage ) plans to attack is Rinat Akhmetov. And one of the first companies to come under pressure is DTEK. Representatives of the president’s team have already accused DTEK and Centrenergo of not having accumulated enough coal in thermal power plants. As of today, coal supplies there are 60% less than a year earlier. In the near future, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) will intervene in the matter and consider problems with the accumulation of fuel supplies.

On the eve of the meeting, the president ’s office received a study of the Ukrainian energy market from the consulting company Berlin Economics, which literally contains the following recommendation: "The Ukrainian authorities need to use price restrictions and deregulation to stimulate DTEK to sell its assets." Also, Berlin Economics recommends starting to import electricity. Obviously, this is the maximum plan for Zelensky’s team in relation to Rinat Akhmetov’s company.

More news came from the agricultural market, and it concerns the company Svarog . It turned out that the initiative to sell it was connected with the conflict between the main shareholders — the Buryak brothers. However, the sale of the asset, despite the scandal, will be extremely difficult. Kernel has already abandoned the asset due to the fact that most of the land "belonging to " Svarog is not properly registered.

That ’s the news this week from the corporate world. Next week they we expect much more. Business activity this week is at an absolute minimum, but is expected to heat up fast.