umgi

umgi was delighted to host a meeting of Women on Boards Ukraine members and Business Ombudsman Roman Waschuk at our Kyiv office. This event provided a platform for participants to share their insights on the current realities of doing business in Ukraine and explore future growth opportunities. Our Chief Investment Officer, Nadiia Kaznacheieva, participated in the discussion alongside Nina Dombrowska, Oksana Volchko, Oksana Monastyrska, Sonya Soutus, Olena Volska, and Olyana Gordiyenko. Roman Waschuk, drawing from his extensive diplomatic background and his role as Business Ombudsman, shared valuable perspectives on Ukrainian business culture. He noted that Ukrainians often tend to downplay their achievements individually and as a nation, and encouraged a shift toward greater confidence and ambition. Women on Boards Ukraine is a not-for-profit organisation promoting women's leadership through networking, advocacy, and education. By empowering women, the organisation aims to advance inclusive decision-making and drive more equitable and effective corporate governance in Ukraine. umgi is proud to support this mission. We value the contributions women make to our growth and are committed to helping them continue to thrive alongside us. #umgi #WomenOnBoardsUkraine #Leadership #BusinessOmbudsman #Investments #CorporateGovernance #WomenInBusiness #Empowerment

We are proud to announce that our CEO, Andrii Gorokhov, will be moderating the Best Sectors for Private Equity Deals in 2024 and Beyond panel, which will be held during the Private Equity Insights conference on 4th September in London. This is the UK's largest private equity conference, where leaders and innovators of the financial sector will come together to exchange ideas and discuss the future direction of the industry. Stay tuned for insights and highlights from the event! #PrivateEquity #PEInsights #Investments #umgi

Nadiia Kaznacheieva, the CIO of umgi, participated in the “Unlocking opportunity in CEE" panel discussion on SuperReturn Emerging Markets, held last week in Amsterdam. The panellists discussed the best CEE countries to target for investment right now, how CEE investors and fund managers are navigating an environment of ongoing conflict and initiatives and strategies, which can be implemented to support female leaders in the CEE region. “At umgi we target the companies, not the countries, with a meticulous study of local regulation, tax, labour regime and the culture space. And we invest in the business, that has growth capacity either locally or could do international expansion. Our strategy is consistent with most ESG principles including female leadership, which we have started rather inorganically than organically due to the start of the war in Ukraine.» — shared Nadiia our approach.

Olena Shvedova, Chief Legal Officer of umgi, participated in a panel discussion titled "Ethical leadership and management, what are the differences?" at the III EU-Eastern Partnership Legal Forum in Warsaw. She spoke of ethical leadership as the next level of management necessary for the sustainable success of a modern business. She shares best practices of umgi that allow us to stay in line with our main principles: Respect, Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency. We have just updated our Ethical Code with a focus on ethical leadership. As a growing international company, umgi builds a corporate culture where everyone's work aligns with their values. Developing a trusting relationship within the company has been instrumental in guiding our ethical leadership practices. The first step towards implementing our principles is finding the right people. Selecting candidates with the same values helps us develop a unified, ethical corporate culture. Our next goal is to help them see any mistake as a valuable opportunity to learn. We do case study exercises to guarantee that mistakes are never ignored but analysed and used for growth. Another important instrument of ethical leadership in umgi is the Trust Line. It is an anonymous communication line where anyone can express concerns about law violations and non-compliance with standards and principles of corporate ethics. Mechanisms like this provide umgi with a practical approach to ethical issues and ensure our ongoing development. #EthicalLeadership #CompanyCulture #CompanyValues #Trust

Umgi has released a summary of its results for 2023. Last year, the umgi team remained committed to its strategy of expanding into European markets, by investing heavily in asset growth. Over the past two years, umgi has allocated nearly $22 million to the expansion of its businesses. Umgi's industrial goods portfolio has grown much stronger with Inwire Group’s launch of a new cored wire production facility in Izmit, Turkey. Inwire Group is one of the largest manufacturers of metallurgical industry components in Ukraine. This plant took nearly two years to complete, and its finished products will be used to satisfy the needs of the local Turkish and broader Middle Eastern markets, greatly strengthening the company's global presence. Since 2022, the total project investment has had a $2.4 million. In addition, umgi has expanded its mining portfolio with the opening of a modern clay production facility in Spain, operated by VESCO Group. In 2023, VESCO Clays Spain opened the Encarnita clay quarry in the municipality of Berge, Teruel. "At umgi, we are driven by a vision to assemble a $1 billion investment portfolio by leveraging our global expertise and forging strategic partnerships that support Ukraine's recovery. Our investment team is continuously seeking new business opportunities and developing a network of partners across Ukraine, the European Union, Turkey, and India. We remain steadfast in our commitment to strengthening our portfolio with new businesses in the industrial and healthcare sectors, both domestically and internationally, targeting the closure of one to two deals annually,” stated Andrii Gorokhov, umgi CEO. Based on internal estimates, umgi’s total losses inflicted by the war in 2023 amounted to nearly $20 million. Notably, the JSC Chasivoyarskyi Refractory Plant (Chasivoyarskyi Vognetryvkyi Kombinat), which is owned by the VESCO Group is currently in an active combat zone. "Despite the substantial losses suffered by our assets due to russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian businesses have demonstrated resilience and rapid adaptation to the new reality. We are witnessing signs of recovery across the processing, construction, and manufacturing industries," explained Andrii Gorokhov. "Feednova has achieved its budgetary targets despite martial law and border closures, and a decision has been made to scale up investment in central Ukraine. Recycling Solutions has completed the relocation of its microsphere recycling production to western Ukraine, emerging as one of the EU's largest importers of granulated slag. Intech and PortInvest have recorded year-over-year increases in freight volumes.” In 2023, umgi opened a regional office in Warsaw, Poland. The office is tasked with coordinating the company's foreign investments and facilitating its portfolio companies' pursuit of opportunities within the European Union.

The private equity market in Southern Europe has great potential. CEO of umgi, Andrii Gorokhov, shared a positive prognosis in his interview at the Private Equity Insights 2024 conference in Milan (Italy), where he moderated a panel on the implementation of ESG and Impact Investing. Despite the challenges, the valuations are becoming fairer, and the region remains attractive for foreign capital. umgi is one of the investors willing to contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Italy, Spain and other countries of the region. Andrii Gorokhov also emphasised the role of ESG-compliant instruments in asset management and securing sustainable growth. Watch the video to find out more about the current state of affairs and the instruments necessary for further development. #finance #privateequity #impactinvesting #ESG

In 2023, VESCO Group, a portfolio company of umgi, generated $75.2 million in gross revenue. This year, the team expects sales to double. The group is actively working on the strategic expansion of its business in Europe, the main markets for VESCO clays being Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Turkey, and Poland. In 2023, VESCO Spain commenced extraction from a clay quarry at the Encarnita deposit in Spain. In 2024, VESCO Україна plans to extract up to 500 thousand tonnes of clay. It is a six times decrease compared to the pre-war period. However, combined with the stocks, it is enough to restore the flexibility of the product portfolio and meet the individual needs of the customers. VESCO continues to develop transport routes in the Black Sea through Ukrainian ports and plans to increase its logistics capacity within Ukraine. The group prioritises R&D to strengthen expertise, implement the principles of sustainable mining and further diversify extraction. In 2023, investments in the support and development of the group's companies totalled USD 5.3 million, of which USD 3.6 million were allocated to R&D. To achieve its sustainable development goals, VESCO is constantly working on land recultivation. In 2023, the group returned 108 hectares of land to Ukrainian communities, investing almost USD 3 million in the restoration.  #Mining #SustainableMining

The Chief Investment Officer of umgi, Nadiia Kaznacheieva, will participate in a panel discussion at the Know-how sharing & networking event for young transactional lawyers organised by Schoenherr Attorneys at Law Romania. The panellists will talk about "Aligning international and local expectations in PE/VC investments" on May 30. The event will take place in Bucharest and focus on the latest trends and opportunities in cross-border dealmaking. The speakers include M&A and FDI lawyers, international experts, investment bankers, and representatives of EU and national FDI regulators and private equity funds. #Investment #PrivateEquity #Dealmaking

Serhii Bahatskyi, Chief Information Officer at umgi, will speak at the Audit & Risk Conference 2024 about the prospects of using artificial intelligence-based technologies in auditing. His presentation will be part of the Tech Future Audit section dedicated to the transformation of auditing today. The conference will take place online and offline in Kyiv on May 30. It will bring together 100+ professionals. The event will focus on current issues of internal audit, risk management and legal compliance. #Internalaudit #RiskManagement #LegalCompliance #AI

The Chief Investment Officer of umgi, Nadiia Kaznacheieva, will speak at the Private Equity Insights Poland-CEE 2024. It is the largest private equity conference in the Central and Eastern Europe. The event will take place in Warsaw on May 23. Leaders of the region's financial sector will gather to exchange ideas and discuss the development of the industry. Nadiia Kaznacheieva will participate in the panel discussion Best Investment Strategies in a Dynamic Environment. She will converse with Milan Kulich, Director and Head of CEE at Advent International, Jacek Poświata, Chairman CEE at Bain & Company, Pawel Borys, President of Management Board of MCI Capital TFI, and Wojciech Jezierski, CIO of Koronea. The participants will share their experience devising effective strategies and driving impactful outcomes under unpredictable conditions. #finance #privateequity #investment