Daily monitor

The president of Ukraine cancelled a decree banning the privatisation of 9 companies that the government approved in December 2008.

On May 26, 220.2 thsd mt of oil was sold at Auxiliary Resources Auction 129-D, which took place on the floor of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange. According to UICE’s official information, the average price of the oil was UAH 1,228 per mt (down 3.3% from the last large-volume auction, Auction 128, which took place on April 22), or USD 18.1 per bbl (excluding VAT, at USD/UAH 7.70, up 0.5%).

According to a press release from Zaporizhtransformator [ZATR UZ, N/R] – the world's largest manufacturer of transformer equipment – the company has signed a new contract with Kambaratinskoy Hydro Power Plant (HPP) in Kyrgyzstan. The new block power transformer will be delivered to the client by the end of September 2009. The value of the contract has not been disclosed yet due to an agreement between the partners.

According to the figures released by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the BOP deficit in April grew USD 1.1 bln. Therefore, the BOP deficit in January-April reached USD 6.3 bln.

According to a press release from Kharkiv-based Turboatom [TATM UZ, HOLD] – the largest turbine manufacturer in Ukraine – the company has plans to increase CAPEX to USD 2.6 mln. mainly for modernizing and developing its production facilities in 2009. TATM has already announced plans to complete the first stage of its workshop N50 reconstruction by the end of 2009, which will allow the company to increase the quality of its castings.

According to Metal Courier, a CIS metallurgy and mining research group, prices for K coal concentrate in Ukraine decreased further in May to USD 63 per mt from USD 65 per mt in April. Zh coal concentrate dropped to USD 61 per mt in May from USD 67 per mt in April. The price for imported Russian coal concentrate decreased from USD 66 (April) to USD 62 (May) per mt.

The National Bank Ukraine (NBU) has revoked Prichornomorya Bank’s license and started the bank’s liquidation process. Prychonomorya becomes the first Ukrainian bank since the beginning of the crisis to fall victim to an NBU decision to liquidate.

Naftogaz Ukrayiny (NAFTO), the state controlled oil and gas monopoly, has repaid a USD 200 mln loan to Standard Bank. The loan was taken in November 2005 at LIBOR+1.65%.

The State Property Fund of Ukraine postponed the privatisation auctions of 25% stakes in Prykarpattyaoblenergo [PREN UZ, BUY] and Sumyoblenergo from May 22 to May 29. Nobody applied for the auction this time, the SPF announced. The initial asking price for the 25% stake in PREN is UAH 231 mln (USD 30.3 mln) and for the 25% stake in Sumyoblenergo is UAH 209 mln (USD 27.4 mln).

According to a statement from IFC, the Board of Directors of IFC is going to consider the allocation of USD 20 mln to Megabank [MEGA UZ U/R] on May 22, 2009. USD 10 mln would be provided under a 3-year convertible loan, and the other half as a 7-year subordinated loan.