PrivatBank held a successful online auction during which 245 gas stations and 33 land plots were sold. For a long time, they were under the control of companies of the Privat group owned by Ihor Kolomoiskyi.
According to Forbes Ukraine, the auction was held on the OpenMarket platform, which is administered by the state enterprise SETAM, subordinate to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The OpenMarket platform is known for its transparency in conducting public auctions, which ensures equal conditions for all participants.
Problems with the management of these assets have been going on since 2020, when PrivatBank was unable to terminate leasing agreements with companies of the Privat group. This led to the accumulation of debt, which exceeded 10 billion hryvnias. The financial burden caused by the inability to freely manage its assets forced the bank to resort to the sale of these objects through open auctions.
Only two real bidders took part in the auction, although a total of nine companies submitted bids. Seven of them failed to pay the security deposit, so their bids were rejected. According to the results of the bidding, the winner purchased a package of gas stations and land plots for 695.9 million hryvnias, which is 0.3% higher than the starting price of the lot. Currently, the name of the new owner of the gas station remains unknown, but according to the terms of the agreement, within ten working days he must submit a joint application with PrivatBank to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to obtain a permit for the concentration of assets.
Sold gas stations and land plots are located in 21 regions of Ukraine, including Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv and other regions. In total, the network of gas stations of the Privat group includes more than 1,500 gas stations operating under 11 different brands, including popular chains such as ANP, Avias and Sentosa. This is the largest combined network of gas stations in Ukraine, and in some regions its market share reaches more than 40%.
Interestingly, the network is formally managed by more than 50 different legal entities, which change annually to avoid excessive government regulation. This makes it possible to control a significant share of the fuel market in the country and carry out effective management. At the same time, this fact complicated the management and accounting of assets, which probably became one of the reasons for PrivatBank’s decision to sell these objects.
