Foreign investors express interest in privatising two state-owned Ukrainian banks

Foreign investors have expressed interest in privatising the currently state-owned Ukrainian banks Ukrgasbank and Sense Bank.

Source: Yurii Drahanchuk, the Deputy Minister of Finance, in a comment to Ekonomichna Pravda. 

Quote: "The state has a strategy to downsize the [state-owned] banking sector, and its presence and participation [in it]. But we need to be realistic here. In the current market, PrivatBank is the bank in which the state is [most] willing to invest, and one that generates billions of dollars in revenue for the state budget," said the official.

He noted that the government is not currently ready to sell off this bank, but did not rule out the possibility in the future. 

"We have foreign investors interested in two state banks, namely Ukrgasbank and Sense Bank, and we are actively preparing them for sale. We received [word of investor interest] at the end of last year, beginning in autumn," said the Deputy Minister of Finance.

Drahanchuk said that the Ministry of Finance will soon be hiring financial advisors for these banks. The Ministry, in collaboration with the World Bank, is working on changes to the laws regarding the sale of these banks to make the process as transparent as possible and to ensure that potential investors are serious about the deal.

"To elaborate, these potential investors are pushing us... [but] at the same time, these banks are preparing internally [for the divestment], and I am quite positive [about the potential deal] and eager to sell these two banks this year. As for the bank that generates the most revenue for this country, it is not up for sale at the moment," concluded Dranhachuk.

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