Yushchenko decrees halt to controversial government plans to privatize prized chemical plant during the election period
Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko announced on Sept. 12 that he had by decree halted controversial government plans to privatize a prized chemical plant during the election period.
In a statement, the president’s office said plans by the State Property Fund (SPF) to tender off a controlling stake in Odessa Portside Plant, Ukraine’s leading producer of nitrogen fertilizer and ammonia, had been banned by presidential decree.
Analysts had in recent weeks expressed concern over whether the politically sensitive sale could be managed transparently amid the snap parliamentary elections. The SPF recently announced the tender in a manner that some analysts dubbed as rushed. The actual tender was scheduled for October during the coalition-building period.
The starting price for a 99.52 percent stake in the plant was set on Aug. 15 at $500 million. Analysts said the plant could be tendered off for $1 billion or more.
A handful of domestic and Russian bidders expressed interest in participating in the privatization bid.
Ukraine’s record in privatization has been tainted under the SPF’s current leadership, headed by Socialist Party leader Valentyna Semenyuk, a loyal ally of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
