Ovostar Union’s path to become a Ukrainian investment success story began in 2008 when Borys Bielikov and Vitalii Veresenko decided to merge their companies and create a powerful modern agricultural holding, which is now a confident leader in the market of eggs and egg products in Ukraine and abroad.
In 2011, the company conducted an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The funds raised allowed it to successfully implement the investment program and increase production by almost five times in ten years.
Today, Ovostar Union continues to grow organically, gradually increasing its production capacity and expanding its network of trade offices. The company is one of the three largest producers of chicken eggs in Ukraine, in the top five in Europe, and its products are in demand in 52 countries. In2020, 1.67 billion eggs were collected at Ovostar Union poultry farms, and the number of laying hens amounted to 8 million.
Ovostar Union is a progressive innovator in its field – it was the first company in Ukraine to produce egg products, install enriched cages, and introduce advanced standards for the management of industrial poultry, including barn and free range.
The company’s shareholders include large international institutional investors like the Canadian investment fund Fairfax Holdings, the Polish Generali Group and Aviva Poland.
The company always strives for more and continues to attract large investments in the country’s economy. Ovostar Union is currently working on a new project with a total investment of $ 15 million – the construction of a poultry processing plant using the world’s best practices and technologies.
However, success stories like these attract not only investors but also those who seek easy profits gained in a dishonest and illegal way. Over the past two years, the company’s top management and investors have been under constant pressure: attempted raider attacks, unsubstantiated legal claims, baseless criminal charges, and even harassment by local authorities.
For instance, the beneficiaries of the financial company Fingroup Factor exert pressure on Ovostar’s shareholders and top management, forcing them to purchase the illegitimate rights for a loan claim on assets that have already ben lawfully acquired by Ovostar in 2018. In essence, Ovostar is being forced to buy for the second time what already legally belongs to them.
The fact that it is still possible to pull off such illicit schemes in Ukraine shows the high level of corruption and insufficient protection of foreign investments. The country’s judicial system remains inefficient and the rule of law fragile, which makes international investors anxious about the safety of their investments and breeds distrust of state institutions.
In recent years, the Ukrainian government has taken important steps to address this acute problem. Reform of fiscal authorities, support for investment projects with significant investments, creation of the Bureau of Economic Security, and digitalization – all these and other promising initiatives are growth points that prevent the harassment of institutional investors and, consequently, improve the investment climate in Ukraine as a whole.
Nevertheless, significant problems and obstacles for investors still exist, and all the listed positive changes can be negated. International investors will feel confident and safe in our country only when the government provides more clear, transparent regulatory rules, a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of corruption, and effective protection of the rights and interests of foreign investors.
