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European Bank assists Ukraine in major privatisation programme
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development today announced a major programme of assistance for the Ukrainian privatization.
"Privatization is a major priority of the Ukrainian government. We are putting in place a team of highly qualified experts to help design and implement the Ukrainian privatization programme", Ron Freeman, Vice-President of the Bank in charge of Merchant Banking, said. "They will assist in the drafting of privatization legislation and help organize programme implementation".
The Bank has signed contracts with an international consortium which includes: Roland Berger & Partner GmbH; Morgan Grenfell & Co., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Roland Berger will provide organizational expertise, assistance with training, and, along with Treuhand Ost-Europa, computer and information systems know-how. Morgan Grenfell will provide privatization transaction advice and will assist in mass privatization. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey are the legal advisors.
The tender was organized by the European Bank in liaison with the World Bank. The consortium includes 10 professionals who will be resident in Kiev for approximately nine months. Their work is funded by the Commission of the European Communities and directly supervised by the European Bank.
The Bank will implement two or three pilot privatization transactions in Ukraine. "Through these pilot transactions, we will test the privatization process and feed our experience back into the programme", Freeman said. The Bank has already reviewed financial data on more than 1.000 state enterprises.
The Bank is also looking at major privatization transactions, including in military conversion.
The European Bank was asked by the government of Ukraine to "establish and coordinate the overall advisory assistance program for the Privatisation Programme of Ukraine". Since then, the Bank has advised the government on the overall programme. The international consortium will now help the Government refine and implement such programme. The Bank has also engaged the service of Krzyzstof Lis, the former Polish Minister of Privatization, who was crucial in the initial phase of Privatization in Poland, to advise senior officials of the Ukrainian Government.
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