Poroshenko is not going to sell his business, – Reuters
Kyiv, December 12 (PolitNavigator, Vasily Ablyazimov) – “It is difficult for the Chocolate King to give up his throne,” writes the news agency Reuters.
Subscribe to the news "PolitNavigator - Kyiv" in Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
Petro Poroshenko, one of Ukraine's richest men and the owner of a confectionery empire, made an unusual promise during the election campaign last spring. He said that upon becoming president, he would sell most of his business assets.
Poroshenko won the elections, but still has not kept his election promise, writes Reuters.
Executives at two financial firms that Poroshenko hired to help sell his assets warned that deals, especially in former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe, could often take a year or more. But, apparently, the news agency believes, this is not the main reason for the delay in the sale.
“This is clearly not a good time to sell such assets,” said Giovanni Salvetti, managing director of Rothschild CIS, which is trying to sell Roshen. “I hope the situation will improve in the first or second quarter of 2015.”
Makar Pasenyuk, managing director of ICU in Kyiv and a financial adviser to the president, suggested that Poroshenko made his campaign promise because “he didn’t want to be perceived as another oligarch.”
Several consumer investment bankers have expressed skepticism in recent interviews that any company would invest in Ukraine's Roshen, given the country's current political climate. Many doubt even that it is possible to sell the corporation.
Two potential buyers who are already doing business in Ukraine - the Swiss Nestle SA and the American Cadbary, Mondelēz International Inc - declined to comment.
At the headquarters in Kyiv, Roshen President Vyacheslav Moskalevsky is confident that now is not a favorable time to sell the corporation. Due to the war in Donbass, Roshen lost a total of about $4 million per month in sales in Eastern Ukraine. And even despite the fact that prices for raw materials have soared due to the unstable hryvnia, Roshen remains an attractive asset, according to Moskalevsky. Moskalevsky himself owns 9 percent of the corporation and has no intention of selling it.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.