From craft workshops to corporations. Ukraine has allowed the merger of investment funds, which could change the market

National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSC) allowed businessman Andriy Zhurzhiy is merging the assets of five investment funds. These are 1001, 2001, Inzhur Supermarket, Inzhur Ocean, and Inzhur Zhitniy. They are becoming a new fund – Inzhur REIT.

The first three funds invested in commercial real estate: buildings that were rented out. McDonald's, Silpo, Fora, etc. However, "Zhyttnyi" and Ocean were created for the purpose of purchasing the Ocean Plaza shopping mall and the Zhyttnyi market. The new fund officially became the successor to all the contracts and obligations of the previous participants.

For Inzhur investors, the regulator's decision to merge will reduce risks and increase investment security, Zhurzhyi claims. For other market players, it could improve business conditions, believes Taras Kozak, founder of the Univer investment group. A correspondent investigated whether this is actually the case. LIGA.net.

How Inzhur works

Inzhur is the first Ukrainian Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), according to the company's official website. Since February 2022, the company has been investing in real estate that generates passive income.

The model works like this: Inzhur builds commercial properties and sells them to the fund. The fund, in turn, manages the buildings and rents them out. The minimum investment is from one thousand hryvnias, with a projected annual return of 8.5% in currency.

In the early days, Inzhur created funds for each new property. "When we launched three and a half years ago, a market for this type of investment in Ukraine practically didn't exist," says Zhurzhij. Therefore, his first steps were cautious: one property, one tenant, a transparent model, he says.

He calls the merger of funds an evolutionary step for the company. "Now we have a diversified fund, and the need for project-based, narrowly specialized funds disappears," he says.

As of the beginning of September 2025, Inzhur had 21,234 active accounts. The company has assets under management totaling 3.76 billion UAH.

How will this affect Inzhur's investors?

Jurzhij is confident that merging five funds into one will increase the company's investment capacity by consolidating capital and investor interests. The scale will also give the fund better liquidity.

"Consolidation provides investors with broader diversification – both in terms of assets and operators within a single fund," he notes. It also opens up opportunities for new large deals.

"New opportunities" is not an abstract hint. Currently, Inzhur REIT is in the final stages of acquiring a shopping center in one of the western regional centers, says Zhurzhij. The deal is worth $36 million, and the decision must be approved by the Antimonopoly Committee. Until then, the businessman is not disclosing the details of the deal.

In parallel, Zhurzhij plans to launch retail parks: the first of them, with an area of 7,000 square meters, is to be built in the Kyiv region.

Indeed, the merging of funds reduces risks, agrees Taras Kozak. Especially during wartime. After all, the loss of one asset in a large fund is less critical than in smaller structures. "In a large fund, risks are distributed much more effectively," explains the investment banker.

At the same time, with the reduction of risks, the profitability for investors may also decrease, believes Andriy Stetsyevych, former deputy chairman of the board of Universal Bank. According to him, the enlargement of the fund may lead to a decrease in profitability, since high-profit projects will compensate for less successful ones. "Risk decreases – the rate decreases," he explains.

According to Zhurzhiy, the total projected return of the new fund is 9.5% in currency.

To become an investor in the Inzhur REIT fund, ten hryvnias will be enough. Starting September 10th, the company will sell certificates of this denomination, says Zhurzhyi. He says he aims to teach as many Ukrainians as possible to invest.

"Our task is not only to attract funds, but also to provide experience and shape an investment culture," the businessman explains. He has a plan to bring a million investors to Inzhur within three years.

The regulator's decision is an innovation for the market.

The permission to merge fund assets is an important decision that will affect the market, according to those surveyed.LIGA.netinvestment bankers.

Previously, in Ukraine, funds managed by even the same asset management company (AMC) could not interact with each other. "Fund 'A' could not sell an asset to fund 'B' of the same AMC – even if it was a transparent and logical agreement," explains Taras Kozak.

This made the liquidation of the funds particularly difficult: high-quality assets could not be transferred to other structures.

"The regulator's decision changes the situation," says Taras Kozak. "From now on, in the event of a fund's liquidation, its assets can be transferred to another fund of the same company. Investors will receive certificates of the new fund instead of the old fund's certificates, preserving their interests."

The investment banker considers this rule to be the main innovation that increases market efficiency. If the decision is enshrined in law, it will be an important step for the entire industry. Currently, the National Commission is preparing a new law "On Investment Funds" to replace the outdated 2012 document.

Stetsevych also considers the consolidation a positive signal for the market. "Such decisions indicate market maturity and development," he says. "This can only be seen as good news."

For Ukraine, where the stock market is virtually non-existent, the emergence of such a precedent is a strong positive signal, emphasizes Stetsivych. "Consolidation is like the transition from craft workshops to corporations. This is good and correct. But at the same time, it is critically important to maintain transparency and accountability so that investor confidence is not undermined," he concludes.