After seven years of legal proceedings, the Supreme Court of Ukraine has rejected the claim filed by the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) seeking to terminate the privatization agreement of Ukrtelecom. This was reported by Novyny N, citing a statement from the press service of Rinat Akhmetov’s System Capital Management (SCM), as conveyed by the PromPolitInform portal.
The State Property Fund sold 92.79% of Ukrtelecom’s shares in 2011 for UAH 10.6 billion, but in 2017 filed a lawsuit demanding the termination of the sale and purchase agreement.
In substantiating its claim, the SPFU argued that ESU LLC, the buyer, had violated the terms of privatization by failing to invest the contractually stipulated USD 450 million in cash for the acquired shares, and by not creating and transferring to state ownership a dedicated special-purpose telecommunications network.
Courts of first instance and appeal ruled in favor of ESU, which denied breaching the privatization terms. The State Property Fund subsequently filed a cassation appeal, but the Supreme Court also dismissed the claim.
The SCM investment group did not participate directly in the privatization process. It gained control of the company in 2013 through the acquisition of ESU, the majority shareholder of Ukrtelecom.
According to SCM estimates, the group has invested over USD 800 million in Ukrtelecom’s development. During this period, the company emerged from losses and was transformed into a modern and profitable business providing stable services that are used by government authorities and security forces during wartime.
Natalia Yemchenko, Director of Communications at SCM, stated that the court’s decision prevented the creation of a dangerous legal precedent and helped preserve the stability of critical infrastructure during wartime.
