This was the focus of the 3rd session of FIT for Ukraine: Annual Meeting, the largest investment forum organised by #UkraineInvest in Warsaw as part of the ReBuild Ukraine exhibition.
The participants shared their success stories and investment plans for 2024.
Key messages from the speakers
🔷 Among the advantages for investors who will come to Ukraine even before our victory are cheaper entry, which is associated with undervalued assets and a wider choice of investment objects; greater openness, systematic support from the authorities and maximum assistance in work; lower operating costs; the opportunity to gain a significant market share and increase their presence before other players come – Sergiy Gaidachuk, Founder and President of CEO Club Ukraine and CEO Club London.
🔷 Kingspan, with the support of UkraineInvest, is implementing a major investment project in Ukraine worth more than USD 300 mln under the Law on State Support for Investment Projects with Significant Investments. An important element of the project is the creation of more than 700 jobs. Kingspan is a world leader in the manufacture of high-tech, energy-efficient building materials. Ukraine will need these to rebuild destroyed homes, industrial facilities and other infrastructure. It will also help raise the standards of production processes in Ukraine to world best practice – Anthony Doherty, internal legal advisor at Kingspan
🔷 The wood and furniture industry is the engine of Ukraine’s recovery. We did not stop investing during the war. We built and launched a logistics centre in Kalynivka, Kyiv region, worth more than EUR 20 mln. We invested more than €100 million in a plant in the Rivne region. We are also developing the region’s first private industrial park. As part of our long-term goals, we are working to develop Ukrainian woodworking into one of the leading clusters for the production of furniture and building structures in Ukraine. Ukraine must become one of the world’s leading producers of high value-added wood products and furniture – Natalia Pokinska, CEO of Kronospan Ukraine.
🔷 Long before the war broke out, Bayer invested around EUR 200 mln to set up a corn seed production facility in the Zhytomyr region. With its plant, Bayer is one of the largest investors in the region, with taxes accounting for about 25% of the local community’s budget. In 2022, our company decided to further invest in the expansion of seed production, and in April 2023 we announced a decision to increase this investment to EUR 60 mln – Oliver Gierlichs, Managing director & CFO of Bayer Ukraine.
🔷 Astarta will resume the construction of an additional deep soybean processing line at its Globinsky processing plant in the Poltava region. The project was announced in 2021 at a cost of USD 50 mln and is now estimated at around USD 60 mln, adjusted for inflation. The investment will be spread over three years. The plant is capable of producing approximately 160,000 tonnes of high-protein soybean meal, 40,000 tonnes of soybean oil and 9,000 tonnes of pelletised shells annually – Yulia Bereshchenko, Director of Sustainable Business Development and Investor Relations, Astarta-Kyiv Agro Holding
🔷 Our Chicago Atlantic impact investing strategy supports international efforts to rebuild a prosperous Ukraine. The strategy invests in projects, companies and organisations that create measurable social impact and promote development, with a focus on residential and industrial real estate. Chicago Atlantic plans to implement a number of investment projects aimed at rebuilding Ukraine. UkraineInvest is supporting these projects through a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding – Matthew Taylor, Partner and CEO of Chicago Atlantic Trident.
🔷 Even during the war, retailers EVA and Varus have ambitious business development plans – a large project to build 1 million sq m. These are four hubs in Ukraine – Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kyiv. Their construction is scheduled for completion in 2028. Around 200,000 sqm of logistics space is currently under construction. At the same time, we are negotiating with Western investors who want to enter the project as partners – Olena Zubareva, Director of Strategic Communications and Development, TerWin Group.
🔷 In 2003, Studiopack was the first company on the Ukrainian market to introduce aluminium foil packaging, an environmentally friendly packaging that is 100% recyclable. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the company has withdrawn from the Russian and Belarusian markets. Recently, the company was approved for a grant from the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine to purchase equipment to expand into a new market niche – the production of biodegradable packaging – the equipment has been purchased and is already partially commissioned – Vadym Gurzhos, Chairman of the Board of Directors, co-founder of StudioPack Group, Chairman of the Association of Ukrainian Producers of Aluminium Products “Ukraluminiy”.
🔷 Ukrainian companies are setting an example and encouraging foreign partners to invest in the Ukrainian economy. Complete modernisation of the post-war infrastructure, free and fast connection to electricity and gas networks for investment in new production, conditions for fair competition and business cooperation, and attraction of investments are the basic principles of the new state economic policy of Ukraine – Andriy Dligach, Doctor of Economics, Founder and Chairman of Advanter Group, Founder of the International Business Community Board, Chairman of the Board of the Coalition of Business Communities for the Modernisation of Ukraine.
The aim of the forum was to attract private investment for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Anyone who wants to invest in Ukraine and take part in its reconstruction received the latest analytical data on investment incentives, regulatory changes, practical aspects of project implementation and discussed the most important issues facing investors in Ukraine.
FIT for Ukraine is a series of investment forums for companies interested in Ukraine’s reconstruction. In 2023, more than 7,000 people from 65 countries participated in FIT for Ukraine events.
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