UMCC privatization auction fails for the third time – SPF
The auction for the sale of PJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), scheduled for December 20, will not take place, since only two bids were submitted, and one of them was rejected due to inconsistency with the law, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) has said on its website.
"Thus ... the auction cannot be held if there is only one participant. The date of the UMCC auction will be announced later," the SPF said.
This was preceded by a statement by the UMCC privatization advisor – BDO Corporate Finance LLC – that international companies were not ready to participate in the auction due to the lack of guarantees for the protection of large investments by the Cabinet of Ministers. The SPF and the adviser have approached the government with a request to provide such guarantees, but to no avail.
This was the third attempt to sell UMCC since August this year. The date of the previous privatization was set for October 29, 2021 with the same starting price of UAH 3.7 billion.