On 20th and 21st March the Millennium Mayfair Hotel in the heart of London played host to the Ukrainian Investment Roadshow, organised by Stephen Butler and the Strategy Council.
Over 150 delegates were in attendance, including 15 different institutional investors, many of whom are current holders of Ukrainian corporate bonds and equities, including Allianz Global Investors, Argentem Creek Partners, Ashmore Group, Barings, Blue Bay Asset Management, Exito Partners, HSBC, K Hartwell Invest, Morgan Stanley, Old Mutual Global Investments, Pioneer Investments and Threadneedle Asset Management.
Their presence and active participation led to much frank discussion regarding the limited number of quality Ukrainian corporate issuers at present. Other key messages to be heard where that:
Although the reform process has been slow and imperfect, much more has been achieved in the past 3 years than in the previous 20 and those reforms undertaken are now irreversible;
- There are many innovative and pioneering Ukrainian companies, across sectors, who are now benefiting from the necessity to increase efficiency and streamline business processes;
- International institutional investors await further Ukrainian issuers on the capital markets, despite some past experiences;
- Agriculture, energy and hi-tech continue to be amongst the most attractive sectors. However other sectors, including retail, real estate and healthcare are showing strong signs of growth.
Senior Ukrainian officials who used the occasion to enter into dialogue with the domestic and international business communities included:
Nina Yuzhanina, Head, Taxation & Customs Committee, Verkhovna Rada
- PavloMoroz, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine
- E. NataliyaGalibarenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK
- Daniel Bilak, Director, UkraineInvest
- Leonid Kozachenko, Member, Agrarian Policy & Land Relations Committee, Verkhovna Rada
Leading Ukrainian and international companies whose top management provided original case studies in corporate finance and strategy included: Acino Pharma Start, Allseeds, Arricano Real Estate, Astarta-Kyiv, ED&F Man, Immer Group – Ukrplastic, Kodisoft, Metinvest, Svarog West, System Capital Management, UkrGasVidubovannya, UkrOboronProm, UMG, VEON and VolWest Group.
Corporate Partners of the Roadshow were N&D Law Firm, JKX Oil & Gas and Arzinger.
The event was the first to be held under the auspices of Stephen Butler’s new entity – Strategy Council. Stephen has organised many of the largest and most memorable investment conferences for Ukraine for more than 20 years now.
Indeed London will host the next event on 12th June – a Ukrainian Energy Day in London – and a full calendar of events is planned for the Autumn in Ukraine. For further information visit www.strategy-council.com or contact Stephen directly at: [email protected] .
