The State Property Fund has succeeded in closing the bankruptcy proceedings of PJSC «Sumykhimprom»
On November 21, 2023, as a result of the court hearing in case No. 5021/2509/2011 regarding the bankruptcy of PJSC «Sumykhimprom», the Economic Court of Sumy Oblast made the following decisions:
- To reject the manager of the sanation of PJSC «Sumykhimprom» in satisfying his complaints against the actions and decisions of the Fund (regarding the sanation plan) and the motion to extend the sanation procedure;
- To grant the Fund's motion to close the proceedings in this bankruptcy case of PJSC "Sumykhimprom";
- To grant the Ministry of Justice's motion to close the proceedings in the case;
- To close the proceedings in this case.
The full text of the decision will be prepared and published within 5 working days in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.
«The Fund is the owner of Sumykhimprom, holding 99,995% of the company's shares. In 2018, the Government decided to include the company's shares in the List of Large Privatization Objects, and their sale was planned through an open auction. The privatization decision was intended to be the basis for closing the bankruptcy proceedings. However, over the last 5 years, representatives of structures that de facto controlled Sumykhimprom constantly filed petitions in various courts to delay and suspend the case. They challenged 'interim' resolutions on procedural matters and deliberately prolonged the legal process to prevent the closure of the bankruptcy case and disrupt the preparation of the enterprise for privatization. However, the Fund took all possible measures, even filing a complaint with the Higher Judicial Council, and ultimately succeeded», said Denis Shugaliy, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
By its decision, the Economic Court of Sumy Oblast has currently unblocked privatization and restored state control over the enterprise.
The history of bankruptcy and sanation of PJSC «Sumykhimprom» is as follows: In 2010, Dmytro Firtash acquired 0.005% of the minority share package of the enterprise. The rest of the shares were and are owned by the state. Despite this, he managed to appoint the manager of the enterprise, a former manager of one of his companies, «Crimean Titan». Due to inefficient management actions, within a year, PJSC «Sumykhimprom» transformed from a successful chemical giant into an insolvent debtor, accumulating debts of 1,4 billion UAH. The majority of the debts were concentrated in companies from the Group DF (Nadra Bank, Sintez Resurs, Ostchem International, Crimean Titan, KUA «Promyslovi investytsii»). Exploiting this situation, they formed a committee of creditors for the enterprise, initiated the sanation procedure, and appointed a sanation manager. He developed the sanation plan twice - in 2014 and 2021. As the documents did not comply with legal requirements and did not contain effective measures to restore the solvency of the enterprise, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) refused to approve them. During this time, the enterprise's debt reached 2,35 billion UAH. In 2018, a decision was made to privatize the state package of PJSC «Sumykhimprom». The bankruptcy procedure could have been stopped through a relevant petition to the court, and SPFUdid so in 2018. However, the sanation manager and creditors associated with Dmytro Firtash, using procedural loopholes, prolongedly blocked the court's decision to close the bankruptcy case.