Agriculture ministry ready to transfer Ukrspyrt to SPF by late 2015
The Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine is ready to transfer Ukrspyrt state enterprise to the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) for privatization by the end of the year, Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Pavlenko said that the ministry has drawn up a draft law that defines the specifics of the legal regulation of the denationalization of spirit and vodka industrial enterprises and their operations after denationalization.
"We've announced the course for total denationalization and we will stick to it. Corruption and criminal schemes have brought Ukrspyrt to ruin. The Agriculture Ministry insists on the privatization of the monopolist and is ready to do everything for this. The draft law would settle the procedure for denationalization of the state enterprise. The ministry is ready to transfer Ukrspyrt to the SPF by the end of this year for privatization," Pavlenko said.
He added that since the crisis at Ukrspyrt was resolved it has made profit and paid off its main debts.
Acting Director General of Ukrspyrt Roman Ivaniuk told Interfax-Ukraine on November 6 that it was unlikely that Ukrspyrt would be privatized in the near future.
"The concept of the privatization has not been agreed on. We are taking a glance from within a year after, and I don't believe privatization [will take place] in the near term," he said.
Ivaniuk also said that he was unwilling to work while the tender to select the new head of the company was ongoing.
"If it were [held] quickly, I'm ready, and now it is not clear how much time it will take [to finish the tender]… I cleaned the company, the company sees profits, and I don’t see any sense to sit and look at the ceiling," he said.
On October 6, 2015, Ivaniuk decided to withdraw his candidacy from the tender.
Earlier, Pavlenko said that his ministry was mulling various options for the privatization of Ukrspyrt.
The cost of Ukrspyrt's distilleries has been assessed at $300 million, he said.
Ukrspyrt is subordinated to the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry. In 2014, Ukrspyrt plants produced around 15 million decaliters of alcohol; the entire volume was sold on the domestic market.