Kazakhstan’s sixth-largest private company, BI Group, has acquired Ukrainian construction firm Watzenrode to take part in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and residential projects in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Forbes Ukraine reported.
Kazakh companies sought to enter Ukraine’s market in late 2021, with Kaspi close to acquiring Ukraine’s BTA Bank to launch its marketplace and online services, but Russia’s full-scale invasion halted the deal before it was finalized.
Now, a market set to play a major role in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction has gained a new foreign player.
BI Group searched for a Ukrainian partner from late 2024 to April 2025 and chose Watzenrode for its “clean” corporate structure, Ayan Zikirin, BI Group’s shareholder and Ukraine director, told Forbes Ukraine.
The group has three founders. According to Forbes’ ranking of Kazakhstan’s 75 richest businessmen, one of the founders, Aydin Rakhimbaev, ranks 20th on the country’s rentier list, 10th among its wealthiest entrepreneurs, and 7th among the most influential.
Watzenrode was previously owned by French citizen Inès Jerzy Ertlé. The current beneficiary is Mukhit Nurbayev, according to the Ukrainian business registry YouControl.
“Mukhit is an employee of the company,” BI Group’s Zikirin told Forbes, adding that once Watzenrode is fully integrated into the group’s corporate structure, the ultimate beneficiaries will be changed.
Watzenrode employs 150 people and has experience with international clients, including UNDP, EIB, GIZ, KfW, NEFCO, Nestle, CRH, Ferrexpo, PepsiCo, and Samsung, according to Forbes Kazakhstan’s data.
Watzenrode’s revenue rose about threefold in 2024 to Hr.348 million ($8.25 million) and increased by nearly half in the first nine months of 2025 to Hr.374.4 million ($8.87 million), according to YouControl.
Over the next three to five years, the company plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in Ukraine, Zikirin told Forbes. BI Group is looking for land in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
“These are the most populous and economically active areas, and since the start of the war many displaced people have arrived who will need housing,” he said.
Kyiv and its surrounding region have taken in a significant number of internally displaced people since Russia’s invasion, as residents fled areas affected by fighting and occupation.
At the same time, Kyiv has faced repeated Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, causing periodic power outages, yet it remains Ukraine’s main economic hub and continues to drive demand for new housing despite the war.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, cities, towns, and critical infrastructure have sustained widespread damage from fighting and bombardment, leaving large areas of housing, transport, energy, and public facilities in need of repair or reconstruction.
The World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations estimate Ukraine will need about $524 billion in reconstruction and recovery over the next decade.