For the company that became insolvent, "Enselco," the structures of the owner of Kernel want to raise over 1.2 billion UAH.
One of the wealthiest Ukrainian landowners, former Verkhovna Rada deputy from the Party of Regions Andriy Verevskyi, who controls the agricultural holding Kernel, has begun selling off agricultural businesses that are redundant for him.
As "DS" found out, on February 2, an auction was announced for the sale of the entire asset lot of LLC "Enselco" (Poltava), scheduled for March 3 this year. The starting price for this asset is more than significant, amounting to 1.233 billion UAH.
Back in 2011, Kernel executed an option to acquire the group of companies "Enselco" headed by the same-named LLC. At that time, this group, which cultivated approximately 30,000 hectares in the Khmelnytskyi region, was controlled by the investment fund Finch investments, founded by the British millionaire Bob Finch. The deal was completed at the beginning of 2012 and cost the buyer slightly more than $50 million. "The new enterprise, equipped with the latest agricultural machinery, expanded Kernel’s operations in the Khmelnytskyi region, rich in black soil and properly provided with rainfall," is how Verevskiy’s company described their satisfaction with the purchase.
At the time of the deal, the most "profitable" asset of the absorbed group of companies was LLC "Enselco Agro" - its turnover in 2011 amounted to about 150 million UAH, and it was utilizing the lion’s share of the land resources - approximately 25,000 hectares. This company was immediately re-registered under the key holding structure of Kernel - Jerste B.V. Subsequently, over several years, "Enselco Agro" was registered with virtually all of Verevskiy’s land assets in the Khmelnytskyi region, resulting in the company cultivating about 100,000 hectares of land by the end of 2015 in 13 districts of this region.
However, other companies were less fortunate - they turned out to be simply redundant, and it was decided to divest them. As part of this process, LLC "Enselco" was re-registered from Verevskyi’s related offshore companies to one of the former subdivisions of the "Ukrros" group (acquired by Verevskyi in 2011) - Veselinivske grain reception enterprise. This company also found itself among the "exit" candidates and was registered to Lyudmyla Babachenko, a resident of Poltava who worked in Kernel’s structures. After that, the procedure of controlled bankruptcy of the enterprise was initiated. The initiator in the summer of last year was the agro-firm "Khliborob" from the Kirovohrad region, controlled by Verevskyi, to which LLC "Enselco" owed 600,000 UAH. The main creditor, who got full control over the relevant committee, became another company of Kernel’s founder - Lanen S.A., with claims amounting to 1 billion UAH. So it’s no surprise that already in November 2015, "Enselco" was successfully declared bankrupt.
During the liquidation, it was decided to put up for sale all remaining assets of this company as a single lot. Its foundation consisted of shares in subsidiary structures such as "Enselco Agroholding," "Ensel 1," agricultural enterprises "Zhaivir," "Ladyhy," "Olimp," and "Ukraine." However, calling these assets valuable is a stretch - practically all of them are now on the brink of closure, managing insignificant land resources. As for "Enselco Agroholding," this process started last year at the initiative of its parent structure. Based on this, it can be predicted that even a discount of 90% from the starting price is unlikely to help Verevskiy find a buyer for the "worked out" asset. Thus, he will have to come to terms with writing off the billion-dollar debt.