The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, being under pressure from the Security Service of Ukraine, once again violated international and Ukrainian legislation and forcibly returned Vadym Novynskyi to the list of ultimate beneficiaries of the companies of Smart Holding Group, thus grossly violating the rights of the Cypriot Trustees. This made it possible to seize other companies of the Group, in particular, real estate and shipbuilding assets, to suspend the licenses of Enwell Energy, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Disrespect is shown not only to the committed Ukrainian investor, but also to international investors.

LLC Arkona Gas-Energy, which is Ukrainian asset of public British company Enwell Energy and part of Smart Energy Group, for the third time confirmed its legal rights to develop Svystunkivsko-Chervonolutske field.

On 25 April, Julia Kiryanova, the CEO of Smart-Holding, as well as the directors of the businesses from the company’s structure, held a joint press conference where they said about an attempted take-over of the business with the help of the country’s law enforcement agencies, and also gave answers to all the questions from the public and journalists, which arose during the last month.

Subject to the declared principles of integrity, transparency and openness, acting in the interests of the Trustees of one of the largest investment groups of Ukraine (the Business) and its employees, aiming to preserve this Business and its infrastructure, jobs, and a permanent source of revenue for the country’s budget, taking into account the unprecedented pressure from the entire law enforcement system on the enterprises of our Business, we propose for your consideration an offer for finding a way out of the current tangled situation, and a vision of our common future.

The authorities have seized the assets of leading Ukrainian conglomerate Smart Holding, changed the name of the beneficial owner of shares in the registrar and taken control of its gas fields that supply gas directly to the embattled city of Kharkiv amongst other customers in what management told bne IntelliNews is probably a corporate raid.

Today the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) searched the offices of Smart-Holding Group and the business premises of Smart Energy under a criminal case which is completely groundless and is yet another attempt to exert pressure on a socially responsible and economically important business during wartime.

In the discussion, Julia Kiryanova shared the experience of Smart-Holding’s work during the war period and outlined what challenges the business faced and what are the plans for the future. Readers can find answers to these and other questions in a blitz interview with Julia.

Smart-Holding is suffering critical output losses amid the Russian invasion, its CEO says, but production continues and the company is looking for foreign investors.