Nationalisation in Ukrainian: the state confiscated Ocean Plaza along with the debt of UAH 6.7 billion
22 January 2024 16:43
Last year, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine nationalised the assets of several Russian oligarchs, including the Ocean Plaza shopping mall. At the time, it was reported that the shopping centre worth $350 million belonged to the Rotenbergs. Now, according to Ekonomichna Pravda, it turned out that along with the mall, the state also received its debts, which amount to UAH 6.7 billion, reports 
.
the “scheme” turned out to be quite simple. In July 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court nationalised 100% of Avangard-Vilarti LLC. The ultimate beneficial owners of this company were the children of Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg. “Avangard-Vilarti owns 66.65% of Investment Union Lybid LLC, which already directly owns the Ocean Plaza shopping and entertainment centre. The remaining 33.35% in IS Lybid is owned by Andriy Ivanov, Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s business partner, through the Integrity Capital fund.
“Avangard-Vilarti founded another company, Itoder Investments Limited. It is to this company that IS Lybid owes a debt of $177.4 million (UAH 6.7 billion). This company is linked to Cyprus-based Ethoder Investments Limited, which is already directly owned by Rotenberg. And it is to this Cypriot company that the state now owes UAH 6.7 billion. This loan was taken out precisely to build Ocean Plaza. So, in fact, Rotenberg took a loan from himself.
Currently, the state has several options to solve the problem. The first is to sell the so-called “unclean asset” together with the debt. Experts say that in this case, no one needs this “asset” and its value is negative. In addition, the state may impose sanctions on the loan or claim a mortgage on the charter capital of IS Lybid. In any case, Ukraine currently owes the Russian oligarch UAH 6.7 billion.
