On November 29, 2024, the Ukrainian Government approved the State Ownership Policy, a crucial element of the state property management reform.
Vasil Kisil & Partners acted as a legal advisor throughout the development of the Ownership Policy and related documents. EY Ukraine acted as a financial and economic advisor, also compiling international best practices in state property management.
Our lawyers analyzed over 130 international treaties and Ukrainian regulatory acts concerning state property management. In collaboration with the EY team, we developed the concept for the Ownership Policy aligned with international good practice. This concept became the foundation for the further development of the Ownership Policy and related documents, which were subsequently approved by the Government.
Vasil Kisil & Partners’ project team, in collaboration with EY, also contributed to developing procedures for SOEs’ goal-setting and preparing the owner's letters of expectations—a novel concept in Ukraine. On 1 October, the Ministry of Economy approved the Guidelines for Preparing Owner's Letters of Expectations, with Vasil Kisil & Partners and EY playing an active role in shaping them.
The key objectives of the Policy include streamlining the SOEs portfolio, justifying the need to retain state ownership in certain companies, aligning public policy and corporate governance with EU and OECD standards, improving the remuneration system for officials and the dividend policy, setting criteria for establishing supervisory boards, and ensuring transparency and information disclosure. The approval of the Ownership Policy is one of the conditions for Ukraine to receive funding from the EU under the Ukraine Facility program for the total amount of €50 billion.
The project involved multiple participants, including the Ministry of Economy and other government agencies, the European Commission, the IMF, and other international partners of Ukraine, SOEs, as well as several external teams of consultants, including the SOERA project and Deloitte. Vasil Kisil & Partners' lawyers made a significant contribution to coordinating the positions of various stakeholders and ensuring their integration into the Ownership Policy and related documents.
Oleksii Sobolev, First Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, emphasized the importance of the project’s outcomes: “The State Ownership Policy is a roadmap for the transformation of SOEs. It aims to make them more transparent, efficient, and attractive for investment. After all, investments are the driving force behind the recovery and growth of Ukraine’s economy. We aspire for SOEs not only to operate but to become key drivers of economic growth.”
Yuliya Zemlytska, Principal, Infrastructure Reforms at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, commented: “Investments in restoring critical infrastructure require transparent corporate governance of SOEs. The EBRD has been working systematically with the Government of Ukraine and SOEs for decades to improve the regulatory environment and practices in this area. It was an honor for the EBRD to support the Ministry of Economy in developing the State Ownership Policy, which is a key document for implementing state asset management reform. We hope for continued progress and successful implementation of the Policy in practice.”
Volodymyr Igonin, Partner and Head of Corporate at Vasil Kisil & Partners, noted: “We are proud to have been involved in the development of the State Ownership Policy. There was invaluable synergy between the various participants, such as the Ministry of Economy, international partners led by the EBRD, and multiple consultant teams. A special mention must go to Oleksandr Maksymov, Director of the Ownership Policy Department at the Ministry of Economy, who made an extraordinary contribution to this reform but sadly passed away just days before the Ownership Policy was approved.”
The Vasil Kisil & Partners project team included partners Volodymyr Igonin and Ostap Semerak, senior associate Artem Shmatov, associates Olha Lynnyk, Oleksandra Konduforova, Mariia Mykhailovin, and junior associate Anita Dakhal.
For more information on the State Ownership Policy, read an article by Volodymyr Igonin for Forbes here.
* The Ownership Policy was developed as part of a technical assistance project by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The project is supported through the Multi-Donor Stabilization and Sustainable Development Account (MDA) managed by the EBRD. Contributors to the MDA include Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union—the largest donor.
The EBRD, Ukraine’s largest institutional investor, has deployed over €6.1 billion in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Bank focuses on maintaining energy and food security, restoring critical infrastructure on the national and local levels, providing trade finance, and supporting the private sector.
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About the Firm
Established in 1992, Vasil Kisil & Partners is a Ukrainian law firm that delivers integrated legal advice in banking & finance, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, antitrust, competition and trade, dispute resolution, public advocacy, tax law, energy and natural resources law, intellectual property law, labor and employment law, real estate and construction law, as well as PPP, concessions and infrastructure law. Vasil Kisil & Partners is a member and exclusively represents Ukraine in such international professional associations as TerraLex (160 law firms in 100 countries), Cathay Associates (40 high-profile law firms with over 500 headcount worldwide in 43 major cities and countries across Europe and Asia) and Ius Laboris (1700 labor and employment lawyers in 50 countries). Andriy Stelmashchuk is a managing partner of Vasil Kisil & Partners law firm.
