The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has changed the type of joint-stock company for Ukrzaliznytsia from public to private.
The respective decision of the government was made at a Wednesday meeting without discussion.
The Cabinet of Ministers also redistributed powers between the shareholder (Cabinet of Ministers), the supervisory board and the company’s board in accordance with the requirements of the law on joint-stock companies and in order to achieve effective corporate governance, according to the government meeting materials that Interfax-Ukraine has received.
According to the documents, this will allow to achieve a balance between the shareholder, the supervisory board and the board, and also simplify the process of attracting potential investors.
At the same time, according to the ex-deputy minister of infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kava, should this resolution be adopted, Ukrzaliznytsia is obliged to disclose much less information than at present.
Pointing to possible changes in the work of Ukrzaliznytsia after the adoption of this resolution, he also said that Ukrainian legislation does not require an independent audit for private companies, while for public JSC an independent audit of financial statements is obligatory. Also for PrJSC, it is not necessary to have a supervisory board, unlike PJSC, where a supervisory board is required.
“With the change in the legal status of Ukrzaliznytsia from public to private joint stock company, 100 percent of the shares still belong to the state and are prohibited for selling. We had a situation where, formally, the company had signs of a private company and was listed in the public register as public. Now this discrepancy has been eliminated,” the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia said, citing acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov.
