Twitter: 53.8% of foreign investors named the war as one of the key deterrents to investing in Ukraine. However, energy, construction and industrial remain the most attractive sectors for investments.
As many as 53% of foreign investors indicated the war as one of the key deterrents to investing in Ukraine, and 23% of foreigners are waiting for the war to end before giving funding to the Ukrainian economy, according to a report by the Business Ombudsman Council of Ukraine (BOC), “Ukraine at War: Business Environment Transformation and Investment Prospects.”
The respondents said that they are most interested to invest in: construction (23.1% of respondents), energy (23.1%) and industrial manufacturing (15.4%).
Most Ukrainian companies participating in the BOC survey represent the key business sectors in the country: energy, construction, metallurgy, IT, and processing industry – altogether 85.8% of all respondents. The remaining 14.2% of respondents represent other sectors.
More than half of the surveyed companies have foreign investments in their authorized capital or have attracted foreign capital in another way (58.3%), the BOC reported.
The majority of respondents (56.5%) reported revenues of less than $5 million in the last financial year. Only 10.2% of companies had revenues exceeding $100 million.
The BOC also surveyed business representatives from Poland, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and Bulgaria.
Most foreign respondents (38.5%) are interested in making direct investments in Ukraine. However, foreign businesses also consider providing consulting services, acting as donors, contractors, or subcontractors, the survey showed.
Foreign companies could also become providers of certification services according to EU standards, or partners in cooperation with national manufacturers, based on their answers to the BOC.
Respondents said that the Ukrainian government and local authorities could ensure access to justice, simplify administrative and regulatory procedures, and combat corruption.
According to them, these steps could improve the investment climate and attract more foreign direct investment into Ukraine.
Who is investing in Ukraine during the war?
Currently, the main investors in Ukraine are international financial organizations. One of the latest is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which promised to invest €1 billion ($1.1 billion) into its energy programs in 2025, as Kyiv Post previously reported.
2024 marked several vital M&A deals for Ukraine. Foreign, internal and state market players acquired assets of various forms: factories, ports, banks and large companies.
In September 2024, French billionaire Xavier Niel acquired and merged the Ukrainian mobile operator lifecell and fixed-line internet provider Datagroup-Volia.
The deal is valued at $524 million, making it one of the largest recent foreign investments in Ukrainian business, Reuters previously reported.
At the same time, Ukrainian businesses remain the largest investors in their own economy.
Avrora, Ukraine’s largest one-dollar store retailer, secured a deal to buy a 100,000 square meter (1 million square feet) commercial property that belonged to Ukraine’s major investment bank Dragon Capital.
Dragon Capital bought 100% of the share capital from the Karavan Outlet, the major outlet shopping mall in the capital.
Polish Getin Holding and Ukrainian TAS Group have signed a deal to purchase Idea Bank Ukraine. The purchase will cost the new owner $34 million and became the first mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal in the banking sector since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine’s titanium producer operating the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant was acquired by NEQSOL Holding.
Aeroc, aerated concrete products manufacturer previously owned by Russian billionaire Andrei Molchanov, was purchased on an open auction by Ukrainian entrepreneur Hennadii Butkevych, co-owner of Ukraine’s largest ATB and founder of the investment company BGV Group Management.