EFI Group owner to build $240 mln glass factory in Ukraine

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - Ukrainian businessman Igor Liski, the owner of EFI Group, plans to build a window glass factory in the Kiev region at a cost of $240 million.

"We're not giving up and are nearing [the project's] implementation, as difficult as this may be," Ukrainian media reported Liski as saying on social media. Work on the project has been underway for more than a year, he said.

Liski told the Wall Street Journal that he plans to invest $80 million of the $240 million needed for the project. There are also plans to negotiate agreements with European equipment suppliers. Efforts to raise the remaining funds have run into difficulties.

The biggest problem is not people, technology or capital, it is raising project financing, Liski said.

Ukraine currently imports most of its plate glass, and building the factor would make it possible to replace imports.

Liski's EFI Group (Effective Investments) has invested in healthcare, the paper, wood processing and food industries and distribution of agricultural products. The group's businesses include Feednova, a producer of animal fats and feed additives for animals; the MedZirka chain of healthcare centers; Zhitomir Cardboard Factory; cardboard packaging manufacturer SEM Ecopack; wood processor Forest Technology; agricultural product distributor Efi-Agro; and healthcare service Doc.ua.