Photo from Novoye Vremia Business
Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash is reported to be negotiating the sale of a majority stake in one of Kyiv's most expensive business centers – the Parus Business Center, according to Ukrainian weekly Novoye Vremia Business.
Boris Krasnyansky, an asset manager at Group DF, has confirmed the information about the upcoming deal, Novoye Vremia reported referring to a number of independent market sources, familiar with the negotiation process.
"This option is being considered, but I would not want to go into detail until the process is over," the weekly quoted Krasnyansky as saying.
He declined to disclose details of the deal or the buyer's name.
An investment banker, who wished to remain anonymous, said the seller had been negotiating the sale of the asset, but the results of the talks were not known to him.
Parus is a 33-story class-A business center in Kyiv, situated in the capital city's downtown. The building with an area of 75,000 sq. m. (useful area of 56,000 sq. m.) was put into operation in 2007. Investment in the construction was estimated at over UAH 500 million. Before the commissioning of the building, its owner, businessman Vagif Aliyev, sold his stake to Firtash for $300 million. Some experts estimated that the deal was worth twice as much. The new owner received more than 50%.
Read alsoUkrainian journalists find most popular countries for fleeing corrupt officialsAs of 2013, Parus was owned in equal parts by Firtash's Advanced Technologies Plus (through Cyprus-based Bovalon Investments) and Aliyev's Mandarin Plaza, according to an investigative report by Nashi Groshi (Our Money) project.
Market participants and industry experts interviewed by the publication are inclined to believe that the stake in the elite real estate will be sold to a local businessman.
"We often deal with foreign investors, but they are not considering Ukraine due to very high risks associated with the ongoing military conflict. Most likely, we are talking about local investment," said Volodymyr Mysak, Director, Capital Markets at DTZ.
"It is less likely that it can be foreigners who are already present on the Ukrainian market, investing in similar facilities," he added.