Nibulon’s new CEO Andriy Vadaturskyy said the company is ready to produce naval warships, in addition to civilian cargo ships, as soon as the government gives it the go-ahead.
He thinks Ukraine should have its own modern fleet to safeguard its ports and protect its economic stake in the Black Sea.
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“You can calculate how much Ukraine has lost due to the blockade of seaports. And wouldn’t it be better to direct a tenth of it to build a fleet that could protect the ports from such things,” Vadaturskyy added.
Nibulon, a Mykolaiv-based company founded in 1991, has the expertise – its sister company Nibulon Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Yard can produce up to ten vessels per year.
The ships were built to fill the company’s own transportation needs: Nibulon exported 60 percent of its cargo by river before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and built cargo river transportation in the country from scratch.
Nibulon continues to produce and repair its fleet, but this is just one focus of its business. Its founder Oleksii Vadaturskyy was 24th in the list of richest Ukrainians with a fortune of $430 million, according to Forbes Ukraine.
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The cost of the damage caused by the Russian attacks is not far from this figure.
Nibulon’s direct damages are estimated by the company as $416 million and 20,000 hectares of agricultural land occupied by Russian forces out of the total 75,908 hectares the company owns.
The company produces 320,000 tons of grain and oilseeds each year and exports most of its production, holding second place among Ukraine’s largest exporters. It has been participating in the UN World Food Program (WFP) since 2008.
Nibulon's revenue in 2021 was estimated at $1.5 billion with a loan portfolio of about $570 million, according to Forbes Ukraine.
Oleksii Vadaturskyy was killed by a Russian C-300 missile in Mykolaiv in July 2022. President’s office head advisor Mykhailo Podolyak reported that the missile hit the exact spot – the bedroom where Vadaturskyy and his wife were sleeping.
This brought the investigation to the conclusion that the strike was deliberate, aiming to murder Ukraine’s well-known entrepreneur.
After Oleksii’s death, his son, Andriy Vadaturskyy took over the company. Apart from direct damages and land under Russian occupation, the company lost about a third of its assets in crop production, shipbuilding, and livestock.
Andriy Vadaturskyy had to create sustainable processes, digitalize documentation, negotiate debt restructuring with creditors, deal with the mobilization of employees, and invest in artificial intelligence.
After he started leading the company, the younger Vadaturskyy replaced 70 percent of the CEO deputies and 50 percent of the staff in the company’s departments. Most of them were hunted in Kyiv since Mykolaiv lacked professionals.
The staff deficit pushes Nibulon to invest in IT and artificial intelligence – $2 million was already invested last year.
“I want three to five people with tablets to be able to fully manage the grain elevator. This is not a whim, but a necessity. If I don’t do this, there will be no one to manage the elevator in a year,” Andriy Vadaturskyy told Ekonomichna Pravda media outlet.
The company is also cutting inefficient resources, intending to sell its livestock business. “We had a pig farm and a meat processing plant, but we closed them in March. We are ready to sell this sector, pass it on to ‘good hands,’ and help so that people get a solid business,” the CEO said.
The company needs time to recover but the CEO is loyal to continue its operations and not declare bankruptcy despite having lost 70 percent of the company’s assets. “It would not be the right way. Then we would punish those who trusted the company,” Vadaturskyy explained.
Nibulon has renegotiated most of its debt – the negotiations are still ongoing between the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, and the German KfW Development Bank subsidiary DEG.
Vadaturskyy complained on the work of development banks, stating they do not want to take risks while he is ready to own the responsibility and the company’s CEO and works hard to show results.
“They cannot check our documents by themselves, instead ask for extra time and money to be spent on external auditors. They say that there are risks. There are risks, but I sign that I bear responsibility for them. Meanwhile, bureaucrats don’t want to put their signature,” the CEO said.
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