State PrivatBank (Kyiv) On September 27, through the electronic bidding system OpenMarket (SE “SETAM” of the Ministry of Justice) sold 245 gas stations, as well as 33 land plots for UAH 695.92 million, according to information from SETAM.
The name of the buyer is not disclosed, according to published data, the amount paid for the lot is 0.3% higher than the starting price – UAH 693.92 million.
“Interfax-Ukraine” agency is waiting for a response to a request to PrivatBank to clarify the details of the agreement.
The press service of SETAM clarifiedthat the sold objects are located in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Chernivtsi regions.
“The buyer is currently unknown. For 99% it is one of the active operators. I will leave 1% for some miracle type of wholesale operators. It is also necessary to understand that in fact we are talking about land plots, the construction of a new small complex will cost from $500,000. If we are even talking about 50 gas stations, it is $25 million. This is in addition to the paid $17 million,” shared the assumptions of the director of the A-95 consulting group Serhii Kuyun on Facebook.
Commenting on this agreement, he expressed the opinion that due to the location of most facilities in remote settlements and their almost complete absence in cities, gas stations will not be able to generate the revenue necessary for profitable operation.
“We had to hear from the representatives of the operating networks that out of almost 280 objects, 20-30 have prospects,” said Kuyun.
As reported, in November 2023, the Central Commercial Court of Appeal satisfied Privat’s complaint about the cancellation of the court ban on the return of 245 gas stations from companies related to the former owners of the state bank.
In 2016, in compliance with the requirements of the National Bank of Ukraine before nationalization, PrivatBank transferred 248 gas stations to its balance sheet by foreclosing on mortgage items. At the same time, the bank undertook to improve the quality of the loan portfolio.
The next step of the state bank’s management was the transfer of objects for financial leasing to companies from the orbit of the “Privat” group, concluding 22 leasing contracts with 15 lessees, who, in turn, subleased the gas stations to other companies of the same group.
According to the opinion of PrivatBank lawyers, the initial placement on the balance sheet with the subsequent transfer to leasing was carried out in violation of the legislation.
In the first years, the companies of Igor Kolomoiskyi’s group made payments based on the obligations they had assumed, but already in 2018 they reduced leasing payments, and later stopped them altogether.
In 2019-2020, Privat began the process of terminating these contracts and returning the gas station under its control due to non-fulfillment of the conditions by the recipients of fin leasing.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of August 1 of this year, PrivatBank ranked 1st in terms of total assets (895.26 billion UAH) among 62 banks operating in the country. The financial institution’s net profit for 7 months of the current year amounted to UAH 37.16 billion.
