US and UAE companies want to privatize the PJSC Odessa Port Plant
The United States Corporation IBE Trade and Amjad Investment from the United Arab Emirates expressed their willingness to privatize the PJSC Odessa Port Plant. This information was published by the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market of Ukraine. IBE Trade Corporation was founded in 1987 by Alexander Rovt, an American billionaire of Ukrainian origin.
In 2014, IBE Trade Corporation claimed that it wanted to participate in privatizing the Odessa Port Plant. According to the International Fertilizer Industry Association, IBA Trade Corp controlled up to 20% of sales of the world ammonia market and around 7% of ammonium nitrate in 2008.
The Director-General of Amjad Investment is Sheikh Suhail Salim Bahwan who is also Managing Director of a large Suhail Bahwan Group from Oman. Suhail Bahwan Group includes approximately 40 companies from countries of the Persian Gulf, North Africa and South Asia. Suhail Bahwan Group is one of the world’s largest producers of carbamide and sulfuric acid. The Group operates a fertilizer production plant in Oman and another carbamide production plant in Algeria is under construction.
The auction on the sale of PJSC Odessa Port Plant will take place on December 14.
A Ukrainian company, PJSC Ukrnefteburenie, also expressed its interest in the privatization of the PJSC Odessa Port Plant. The PJSC Ukrnefteburenie is affiliated with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Vitaliy Khomutynnik, as well as Cyprus Glenshee Holdings Limited, affiliated in turn with the DCH Group owned by Oleksandr Yaroslavsky.
On December 31, 2016, the State Property Fund announced a tender for sale of 99.567% of the shares of Odessa Port Plant. The starting price is UAH 5.16 billion, approximately USD 201 million, with a bid increment of UAH 150 million.
The PJSC Odessa Port Plant was offered at the first auction, which should have been held in July 2016, for UAH 13.175 billion (approximately USD 500 million). However, none of the investors wanted to purchase the plant at that price.
The Odessa Power Plant is the largest producer of ammonia and a large-scale producer of carbamide in the former Soviet Union. It has the only ammonia transshipment terminal in Ukraine. The Odessa Power Plant is also the final node in the Tolyatti-Horlivka-Odessa ammonia pipeline.