Australian billionaire plans to invest $500 mln in Ukraine recovery fund run by BlackRock

MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax) - Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has pledged $500 million as an anchor investor for a green energy investment fund being formed by BlackRock to help rebuild Ukraine, deputy head of the Ukrainian President's Office Rostislav Shurma said at the Kiev International Economic Forum on Thursday.

"There should now be the first anchors who will invest the first hundreds of millions of dollars and will show through their real steps that they believe in Ukraine. There is an Australian multi-billionaire, Australia's second richest person Andrew Forrest, the founder of the Fortescue company, which is one of the world's largest mining companies, and one of the major investors in hydrogen technology, who has publicly pledged to invest the first $500 million in one of the funds that BlackRock is creating now," Ukrainian media quoted Shurma as saying.

It is difficult to say at this point how large this fund is going to be, but it is estimated at $25 billion to $100 billion, he said.