Gulliver, the tallest shopping mall and business center in Ukraine, could be sold this fall by its state-run creditor banks, Oschadbank and Ukreximbank, the owners have announced. But some analysts have reacted with surprise to the stated asking price for the five-year-old, 35-story complex located next to Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium.
The high-rise in the capital’s city center will be auctioned through SETAM’s OpenMarket system on Oct. 16 and bids are being accepted up until Oct. 15.
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The shopping mall’s creditors expect to complete a sale of 100 percent of the asset this fall and have set a minimum price of 18.177 billion hryvnia, or about $643 million, reported Interfax-Ukraine.
Gulliver’s new owner will also buy out – in the suggested sale price – the remainder of debt on a loan from the state-owned banks.
Value-added tax is not included in the estimated sale price, so the final cost could be much higher than $643 million. It’s not clear if there are yet any interested buyers in the asset.
The asking price of the indebted shopping mall and office complex has raised some eyebrows among financiers.
“It’s a bit too much,” said one surprised investment banker in Kyiv, who asked not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak with the press.
The owner of Gulliver is TRY O LLC, according to openly available company data. The ultimate beneficiary of that company is named as Viacheslav Ihnatenko.
Gulliver, its associated companies and owners have had a number of collisions with Ukrainian courts and prosecutors through recent years. A number of different companies, some off-shore, currently have an equity stake in the complex .
According to Interfax, citing open company records, Ukraine-based company Mobile West has a 40.6 percent stake, Podemos in London has 22 percent, Hetiber Finance in Cyprus has 10 percent while BVI-registered Budleigh Coast and Lavish Ventures have 18 percent and 9.2 percent respectively.
TRY O LLC couldn’t be reached for comment.
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