Business Week: Fictitious cases against businesses, gas issues, and the industrial park bubble

The government is preparing a unique offer: selling shares of Naftogaz and PrivatBank in a public IPO.

Judging by this week's news, Ukrainians love paradoxical actions – they buy electric cars during emergency power outages, register industrial parks only to close them later. Prosecutors open criminal cases against businesses, which their management then spends six months searching for and closes a third of them as fake.

What's surprising is that under these conditions, businesses are demonstrating rationality and positive dynamics – opening more and more parcel lockers, a third of industrial parks have still started operating, and even increasing sturgeon and black caviar farming. What else made this business week memorable tells us LIGA.net:

A third of criminal cases against businesses are fictitious

After a three-month audit, the Office of the Prosecutor General closed 8,000 criminal cases against businesses out of a total of 23,000. This was announced reported Attorney General Ruslan Kravchenko at the Kyiv International Economic Forum on October 16.

Kravchenko explained that the cases were closed based on three criteria: proceedings that have been open for years without any progress; lack of judicial prospects or elements of a crime; and negative results of economic expert assessments.

Kravchenko emphasized that in May-June, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported only 6,000 cases against businesses, but the audit revealed almost four times more.

At the beginning of September, it became known that The Office of the Prosecutor General has launched a website. "StopPressure" (stoptysk.gp.gov.ua), where businesses can complain about unlawful actions by law enforcement agencies.

Energy restrictions: what about electricity and gas?

Due to Russian air strikes and bombing of Ukrenergo introduced power outage for industrial consumers on Friday, October 18.

The restrictions for industry have been introduced against the backdrop of a difficult situation caused by Russian shelling and high electricity consumption due to the cold weather.

The last time restrictions for industrial consumers were in place for the entire day was in February.

Along with this, the head of Naftogaz, Serhiy Koretskyi urged save gas. "I appeal to everyone – please use gas sparingly whenever possible. Every cubic meter saved today matters," he said.

Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board Naftogaz of Ukraine Natalia Boyko warned about a serious increase in gas consumption in the country (by 20% since the beginning of the week) and also urged people to save gas. She said this on October 16th at the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

Boyko believes that due to the cold weather, Ukrainians have started heating their homes with gas much more actively compared to the same period last year, which creates an additional burden on the already damaged system.

"If we consume something today, we may be taking something away from ourselves in February," she warned.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Russia has attacked gas production facilities in Ukraine for the sixth time in two weeks. As a result of the shelling hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles Important facilities in Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged. Four Naftogaz employees were injured.

Boyko believes that Ukrainians should reconsider their household habits. "Everyone can put on an extra sweater at home. I strongly urge everyone to save energy resources: electricity, gas, heat – and not overheat where you don't critically need it," she said.

For its part, Naftogaz has focused on two priorities: restoring damaged infrastructure and attracting additional funding.

By the beginning of October, the company had accumulated about $2.5 billion for gas procurement, half of which was its own money, and the rest was credit and grant financing from partners.

The company representative emphasized that the restoration is complicated by the specifics of the equipment. Large compressor equipment is not stored in large quantities in warehouses and requires custom manufacturing, which takes months, not weeks.

Industrial park bubble: only a third are operating. Every seventh one is closing

As of October 6, 2025, in the Register of Industrial Parks of Ukraine is 106 projects. During the year, the Cabinet of Ministers added 15 new parks to it, but at the same time removed eight projects. The latter did not have business entities on their territory that had acquired the status of participants. explained to LIGA.net Vitaliy Kindratov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture.

In total, 122 industrial parks have been registered in Ukraine since 2014. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, 30–32 parks were active. Another 16 have already been removed from the register. This means that one in seven projects proved unviable.

This is just the beginning, believes Valeriy Kyryilko, CEO of the Industrial Parks of Ukraine Group of Companies, which specializes in creating concepts for industrial parks and their implementation. "There are 22 more industrial parks on the list for removal from the register, for the same reason – the absence of participants or activity of existing participants over the past three years," he says.

The most noticeable change in 2025 is the geographical reorientation. While in 2022–2024 the leaders in the number of new parks were the Zakarpattia (11 parks) and Lviv (10 parks) regions, the situation has changed this year.

In 2025, only two regions registered two new parks each – Zakarpattia and Odesa. Eleven more regions added one park each, including Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Kirovohrad.

Head of the securities regulator offer / propose / suggestis aboutto give value to the shares of Naftogaz and PrivatBank

Ruslan Magomedov, Chairman of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, proposed conducting "people's IPOs" of successful state-owned companies, offering 7% of their shares on the stock exchange. He spoke about this at the Kyiv International Economic Forum.

"For those who want to invest in risky instruments, Ukraine currently offers nothing. Therefore, we are essentially pushing everyone into crypto, which is, of course, a modern tool, but doesn't bring anything to the economy," he said.

Instead, the money raised through the sale of shares in Ukrainian companies will be used to develop them and grow the country's economy.

Among the companies that could become the subject of a public IPO, Magomedov named PrivatBank and Naftogaz of Ukraine – companies that are understandable to the general public and that demonstrate stable results even during the war.

Magomedov proposes to list 7% of the shares on the exchange. This is more than 5%, which eliminates the risk of a squeeze-out (the forced buyout of shares from minority shareholders by the majority owner), but less than 10%, allowing the state to maintain full control over the companies.

"The ultimate goal is to create conditions so that within three years after the launch of this project, Ukraine will have 5 million investors in securities. Currently, in the domestic government bond market – I don't want to lie, but I'll guess – there are fewer than 100,000," said Magomedov.

Ukraine is experiencing a boom in parcel lockers.Nova Poshta is the leader – how others catch up

Postal operator "Nova Poshta" As of October 2025, it has twice as many parcel lockers in its network as branches. This was announced by LIGA.net said Artur Kudelin, Director of the Department of Parcel Terminals at Nova Poshta.

In 2024 and 2025, the company increased its fleet of parcel lockers at a rate of 30% per year. During this period, Nova Poshta opened about 20,000 autonomous delivery and pickup points.

Competitors will find it incredibly difficult to catch up with the leader, according to those surveyed. LIGA.net market participants. "Nova Poshta is making a maximum leap so that others don't catch up when they wake up," says Oleh Kalenskyi, managing partner of the consulting company Supply Chain Advisors.

Read more here. "Maximum jump".

Increased quotas for exports to the EU – for the companies of Kosyuk, Ivanchyk, and Poroshenko

Ukraine and the European Union on Wednesday, October 15, achieved final agreement on the updating of the trade section of the Association Agreement. This agreement significantly increases the volume of duty-free quotas for key agricultural products reported Association "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business".

Agricultural products account for about 60% of total Ukrainian exports, while the EU buys approximately 60% of these goods, amounting to almost $15 billion.

Increase in the volume of duty-free quotas for exports to the EU (compared to 2021)

Quotas for processed products have also been increased. The quota for bran and its residues increased by 405% (from 21,000 to 85,000 tons), and for barley groats and meal – by 423% (from 7,800 to 33,200 tons).

Imports of used American cars have significantly increased. cars. Half of them are electric cars

In the first nine months of 2025, Ukrainians purchased over 37,100 used passenger cars from the USA. This was reported by reports UkrAutoProm.

This is 11% more than in the same period of 2024. Electric vehicles account for the largest share – 43%.

Gasoline cars accounted for 41% of the total number. Hybrid cars make up 8%, diesel cars – 5%, and cars with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) – 3%.

The average age of used "American cars" that have replenished the Ukrainian vehicle fleet this year is 5.6 years.

The top five most popular used cars made in the USA:

• Tesla Model Y – 5301 units
• Tesla Model 3 – 4520 units
• Ford Escape – 2660 units
• Nissan Rogue – 1892 units
• Jeep Cherokee – 1879 units

The Ministry of Energy urges to build more.charging stations for electric vehicles

Ministry of Energy of Ukraine reported regarding the creation of an interactive map that identifies optimal locations for placing charging stations for electric vehicles. The tool is intended to accelerate the development of the national charging network and Ukraine's integration into the European transport system.

For in the words of representatives Ministry of Energy, Newly created map will allow for more efficient planning of the placement of charging stations on roads, especially those of international importance, where the distance between them exceeds 40 kilometers..

The project was implemented in collaboration with electricity distribution system operators and electromobility experts. The platform contains detailed information about potential locations, as well as data on the available network capacity for connecting new charging stations.

"The development of charging infrastructure is one of the ministry's priority areas, primarily in the context of strengthening energy security and reducing dependence on imported energy resources," the Ministry of Energy stated.

Sales of decorative cosmetics are 35% higher than before the war

Executive Director of Eva, Olga Shevchenko, said LIGA.net about the company's online strategy, the results of the experiment with opening its own beauty salon, and the rapid growth in sales of pet supplies.

According to her, sales of decorative cosmetics in Eva today exceed the pre-war 2021 level in physical terms by more than a third (35%). In addition, sales of perfumes have increased by 26%. The category of face and body care also maintains positive dynamics, albeit more moderate.

Details are in Interview with Eva the manager.

Black caviar production is reviving, and sturgeon are being farmed as they were before the war

Black caviar production in Ukraine is growing. According to the State Agency of Fisheries, almost 2,500 kilograms of black caviar were produced in 2024. Fourteen companies are involved in this, slightly more than in 2023, when 12 enterprises reported participation in the sturgeon business. And these are only official figures.

Over the past year and a half, sales of sturgeon fish have been rising in Ukraine. They have already reached pre-war levels. This is an indirect sign that the production of black caviar, which does not enter official statistics, is increasing.

The actual volumes are larger, according to the professional association – the "Ukrainian Aquaculture Community" (UAC). Who is getting into the black caviar farming business and why – read in At the price of silver.