Igor Bilous: Communicating with investors, the Fund is working on avoiding the risks of privatization of power companies – oblenergos

There are five main risks to energy privatization, which the Fund found out after talking with investors. The Chairman of the State Property Fund, Igor Belous wrote about these risks in his column on "Ekonomichna Pravda".

Among them – the short period from the announcement of the auction to the auction taking place, the need to make a deposit in am Ukrainian bank, not the adoption of laws on NKREKP and the electricity market, the lack of documentation on land and property of oblenergos. In addition, many investors see their participation in Ukrainian privatization only in conjunction with the EBRD.

The Chairman of the State Property Fund said that the Fund does its best to minimize these risks, primarily at the legislative level.

In addition, he noted that the privatization of the oblenergos there are at least two compelling reasons: the risk of a further decline in profitability and increase in debt and low levels of capital investment in the development of enterprises. He noted that the State Property Fund prepares for privatization six oblenergos: Khmelnitsk-, Ternopil-, Kharkiv-, Mykolaiv-, Zaporozhye-, Cherkasyoblenergo.

"They were transferred to SPFU in 2011-2012. According to rumors, at the time of Yanukovych, their targeted privatization was preparing for a particular investor, but then was just not enough time. Since they were under the Fund management, accumulating debts and scandals," writes the Chairman.

According to him, privatization will solve all the problems of power companies and ensure their further development.

The privatization of power companies should be accomplished urgently, in the shortest possible time, while the grid is still not demolished, and the enterprises themselves were not allowed to bankruptcy, as happened with more than a thousand state-owned enterprises.

According to him, foreign investors have interest in our power companies. "Immediately after the Energetic Conference, held by the State Property Fund in conjunction with USAID in June 2016, about 15 companies have shown interest in the enterprises", – he said.