The 4th annual conference, the Ukrainian Investment Summit, held by the Adam Smith Institute, took place March 10-12, 2008. Andrey Ganzetsky, vice president of the Investment Banking Department of Sokrat investment group, represented the company at the summit. He presented a report entitled "The Ukrainian M&A Market: The Most Promising Sectors in 2008”.
The main issues covered by the report were the current trends on the M&A market of Ukraine in its most promising sectors: retail trade, pharmaceutical and insurance. Ganzetsky noted that currently those sectors are the most attractive to foreign investors in terms of M&A, since they are the least consolidated on the Ukrainian market. For example, currently the pharmaceutical sector is represented by municipal or private retail chains due to the absence of a single national pharmaceutical chain in Ukraine. During the last five years, the indicated sectors have demonstrated positive growth dynamics: the insurance market grew 84% in 2003-2007; retail trade volume amounted to USD 29 bln in 2007, while in 2006 it constituted USD 24.5 bln. According to international consulting company A.T. Kearney, Ukraine is among the top five most attractive developing markets for retail trade since it has the lowest percentage of trade space per capita, compared to other Eastern European countries. This shows the potential for development of the retail trade sector on the Ukrainian market of M&A.
“Despite the world crisis of capital market, both investors and investment banks forecasted the favorable environment of the financial market in Ukraine in the mid- and long-term. In the short-term, companies entering the stock market will be presented with enhanced requirements regarding the quality of their financial reporting, principles of running the business and prospects for development,” said Vladislav Ostapenko, director of Sokrat’s Investment Banking Department.
More than 80 experts spoke at the summit. Among them were representatives of some of the largest Ukrainian corporations: Ferrexpo, Ukrtelecom, System Capital Management and Dneprospetsstal; leading international investors: Telenor, Kraft, Central European Media Enterprises, Danone, UNIQA and MTS; key financial institutions, as well as key officials, including Ambassador Igor Kharchenko and Ambassador Timothy Barrow, Members of the United Kingdom Parliament John Grogan and Richard Spring and Ukrainian officials such as Minister of the Economy Bohdan Danylyshyn, Chairman of the State Commission of Ukriane for Securities and the Stock Market Anatoly Balyuk and President of the PFTS Association Irina Zaria. The main topics discussed during the three-day conference were prospects for the development of the Ukrainian economy in 2008, evaluation of investment attractiveness of the Ukrainian market for investors in general and by sectors, the Ukrainian M&A market and the practice and evaluation of Ukrainian companies’ launch of their IPOs.
The Ukrainian Investment Summit is the world’s biggest international forum for investments in Ukraine. In 2008, more than 650 delegates from 21 countries took part in the summit. A topical addition to the program of the event this year was the Ukrainian Infrastructure Summit, which took place March 11–12. Opportunities for the private sector’s participation in projects related to the improvement and modernization of the Ukrainian infrastructure in the run-up to the Euro 2012 Football Championship were considered within the scope of the summit.