"Kernel" is bankrupt: oligarch Verevskyi is withdrawing assets from the company

"Kernel" is bankrupt: oligarch Verevskyi is withdrawing assets from the company

The main shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of the agroholding "Kernel," Andriy Verevskyi, is re-registering the most "desirable" assets of the company under his name. His actions may indicate that the holding is preparing for bankruptcy.

This was written on the Telegram channel "Orestocracy" by the editor-in-chief of OBOZREVATEL, Orest Sokhar. He noted that "Kernel" has already postponed the publication of its consolidated financial report for the year three times.

"There are several reasons, but the most important one is that the agroholding seems to be preparing for bankruptcy. After all, a few months after the start of the full-scale war, Verevskyi conducted an insider transaction (a non-transparent re-registration from one of his companies to another using non-public data) and actually withdrew 134 thousand ha of land from "Kernel" in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions, which were not at risk of Russian occupation," the message says.

That is, Verevskyi himself "bought" corporate rights from legal entities that own 134 thousand hectares of land. For the asset, he had to pay $210 million, although the real price is much higher.

Orest Sokhar notes: such actions by Verevskyi may lead to the bankruptcy of "Kernel." If the Warsaw Stock Exchange stops the circulation of "Kernel" shares due to numerous violations, the company will find itself on the brink of bankruptcy.

And the assets already re-registered to Verevskyi cannot be seized in favor of creditors and investors. And if the courts start confiscating assets from "Kernel" due to debts, the 134 thousand hectares of land will remain with Verevskyi.

A prolonged delay in the publication of the audit report usually occurs in two cases:

• new circumstances have emerged that were previously unknown;
• the results turned out to be so unsatisfactory that more time is needed to "persuade" someone from the Big Four auditors to "correctly" draft the document.

And postponing the report three times is nonsense for a public company. "Kernel" has indeed faced significant problems. They can be assessed as "almost bankruptcy." The net debt increased to $1.7 billion, inventory decreased by 13%, and the company is being denied new loans. Due to Verevskyi’s actions, the shares have fallen by more than 60%, while similar businesses in wartime conditions have seen a drop of 20-40%. Independent managers with impeccable reputations, who are supposed to protect the interests of minority shareholders, are fleeing from the board of directors. There were three such managers, and they almost synchronously left the company of their own accord," emphasizes Orest Sokhar.

"Kernel" is one of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine, whose bankruptcy would affect the country’s economy. In addition, the situation will reflect on the sentiments of foreign investors, particularly their willingness to invest in Ukraine’s development after the war ends.