Proktora Holdings may buy Ukrainian fertilizer producer
KYIV. Sept 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee has granted Cyprus-registered Proktora Holdings Limited permission to buy over 50% of fertilizer producer Rivneazot, the committee said Friday.
The majority shareholder of Rivneazot, with 92.8718%, at the end of June 2011 was Ostchem Enterprises Limited, which manages the chemical assets of Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash's DF Group, the State Securities and Stock Market Commission said.
DF Group has not yet made any comment about this information to Interfax.
The Vedomosti newspaper said Thursday that Firtash had reached an agreement about a year ago with Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg about working together in the chemicals sector. The agreement envisages joint purchases of companies in Russia and Ukraine. Businessmen from the Ukrainian billionaire's milieu say Rotenburg will obtain up to 50% of each asset purchased jointly with Firtash in Ukraine. A spokesman for Rotenberg told Interfax that the businessman is only interested in one company in Ukraine - Odessa Portside Plant, and the agreement with Firtash only concerns Rossoshan Minudobreniya, which Rotenberg gained control over in August.
Ostchem pulled out of the Crimean Soda Plant in Krasnoperekopsk in August 2011, losing control over Cyprus-registered companies Dwara Trading Limited and Valika Limited, which hold 77.4% and 12.6% of shares, respectively. DF Group told Interfax that Firtash remains the owner of the Crimean Soda Plant.
Most of the billionaire's assets are concentrated in the chemicals sector. In Ukraine, he owns Azot (Cherkassy), Severodonetsk Azot, Stirol Concern (Gorlovka, Donetsk region) and Rivneazot. Outside Ukraine, Firtash owns the Nitrofert plant in Estonia and Tajikazot in Tajikistan.
Other assets belonging to Firtash include Crimean Titan (Armyansk, 50.1% stake) and its subsidiaries Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (Zhytomir region) and Volnogorskiy Mining and Metallurgical Plant (Dnepropetrovsk region), Nadra Bank (Kyiv).