State Property Fund officially takes control of Ocean Plaza shopping center in Kyiv

The State Property Fund officially became the owner of a 66.65% stake in one of the largest shopping and entertainment centers in Kyiv and Ukraine — the Ocean Plaza shopping center. Corresponding changes have been made to the state register, the SPFU press service reports.

The next steps will be conducting an audit and assessing the value of the asset. After that, the State Property Fund will make a decision regarding these corporate rights.

The Fund is considering all possible options for the sale of the shopping center at market value, said the first deputy head of the SPFU, Denys Shuhaliy. All funds received from the sale will be directed to the fund for liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression of the Russian Federation.

In June 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred the share of the Ocean Plaza shopping center confiscated from the Russians to the management of the State Property Fund and instructed to prepare it for privatization. Namely, it is the 100% share of the authorized capital of Avangard-Vilarti LLC, registered in Cyprus Ocean Plaza Project (Cyprus) Limited and Ethoder Investments Limited, and 66.65% of the authorized capital of "Investment Union Lybid LLC, owned by Avangard-Vilarti LLC.

IU Lybid is the direct owner of Ocean Plaza. The rest of the corporate rights of Investment Union Lybid LLC belong to the Ukrainian owners.

Assets transferred to SPFU were confiscated from Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, his son Igor Rotenberg, and business partners Aleksandr Skorobagatko and Aleksandr Ponomarenko.

From February until the end of November 2022, Ocean Plaza was closed. At this time, the corporate rights of IU Lybid LLC, which belonged to Russian owners, were transferred to the control of the Agency for Recovery and Management of Assets (ARMA).

The co-owner of the Ocean Plaza shopping center Andrii Ivanov told LIGA.net that he was not interested in its privatization during the war. Ivanov, through Lanita Invest LLC, owns a 33.35% stake in Lybid Investment Union LLC.

Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytskyi (former owner of the UDP development company that built Ocean Plaza) also said that he does not plan to participate in the privatization auction, whatever the starting price.

Previously, the main owner of Ocean Plaza was the Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg and his entourage. Rotenberg was sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council in October 2022.

At the end of March, his Ukrainian assets became state property after the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court.