NAI Global Member in Ukraine Wins Major Commercial Real Estate Award

NAI Pickard, NAI Global’s exclusive member serving the Ukranian market, has been named the Best Commercial Property Agency, Ukraine, by the Europe & Africa Property Awards 2009 in association with CNBC Arabiya.

The award is part of the International Property Awards program, one of the world’s most prestigious competitions dedicated to honoring the best real estate professionals around the world.

Terry Pickard, chairman of NAI Pickard, said of winning the award, “It shows that being entrepreneurial and aggressive in difficult times pays off ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going.’”

The award will be presented in a ceremony on October 16th.

Source: NAI Global


BTW, this was my 400th post in the blog! Congrats myself :)

Expats In Ukraine: Let's Discuss How It's Going

I've found an interesting article about living of expats in China. There are many unexpected issues, at least, for me personally.

And I wondered why we cannot discuss the such topic here, in Ukraine. It would be great if expats who (as I know) read the blog put a couple notes about their lives and feelings in Ukraine.

I hope it will be interesting

KDD Results - 1H 2009

KDD Group N.V. reported results of its operations for the 1H 2009.

According to the company'report presented at the London Stock Exchange in January-June 2009 KDD Group received EUR 3.087 million net profit, which is 14,9 times lower compared to the same period in 2008.

According to the company, the total amount of management salaries for the 1H reached to EUR 374,000, while at the end of 2008 it amounted to EUR 874,000. To date of June 30 in KDD Group employed 92 people, while at the end of last year - 134 respectively.

You Can Congrat Me - 1st Anniversary Of The Blog!

Mass December Expansion - New JLL Kiev Ofiice Head

Jones Lang LaSalle announced today that Peter Honey is to become Head of its Ukrainian business and lead the firm’s growing team to success in Kiev and other core markets across Ukraine. Mark Jagger, Jones Lang LaSalle Managing Director of Russia & CIS: “Ukraine is a very important part of our growth strategy in the Russia & CIS business. We already provide clients a full range of property services in this market and our plan is to be number one in all our major disciplines within the next 12 months.”

“Peter is a long serving member of our firm and has delivered a first class service to our international clients over the last 15 years. His experience with us has given him a broad skill-set and perspective which is essential for such a business development role in an exciting emerging market.”

Jones Lang LaSalle opened in Kiev 18 months ago and the rapidly growing team now comprises of 20 professional staff. Currently, the Kiev office provides retail, offices, warehousing agency, capital markets, strategic consultancy, tenant representation and valuations services and this is set to grow as the office integrates into the wider global Jones Lang LaSalle business.

“Our presence in Russia & CIS is growing exponentially and I very much look forward to contributing to its exciting future. We have a great book of business in the Ukraine at the moment and by adding my personal experience from across a number of Jones Lang LaSalle’s service offerings we’re sure to achieve our ambitious targets for the Ukraine,” concluded Peter Honey.

Peter Honey joined the Jones Lang LaSalle in 1996 and his career in property has stretched across many areas of the industry including valuations, consulting, capital markets and corporate real estate. Peter will join the Ukrainian team in January 2008.

New CEO In Cushman&Wakefield Kiev Office

Robert Grant has been appointed as a CEO of Cushman & Wakefield office in Ukraine.

He has significant experience in the banking and financial areas, as well as in real estate in Ukraine and Russia. Before joining to Cushman & Wakefield, he held CEO position i well-know Midland International (just remember Midland F1 Team) is involved in real estate investment in Russia and Ukraine, as well as managing director in investment banking ING Barings, where he was responsible for Central and Eastern Europe development; finally a chairman of ING Bank Ukraine.

This is a worthy substitute for Bud Moore who was tragically died a couple month ago.

The Ukraine Construction Qualitative Study 2007

This report is kindly presented by Jiri Vacek, who is the leader of construction research project, performed at the University of Economics in Prague and sponsored by KPMG Czech Republic.

To obtain this report you have to send me your company name, business sector you operate and email.

More info

Main Suspect On Elita Center Fraud Is Detained In St.Petersburg

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has confirmed that the detained in St. Petersburg person is really Alexander Volkonskiy, the founder of the well-known "Elita-Center", who was wanted as suspected concerning the biggest fraud in the Kiev real estate market.

"The information is checked. I can say that we have received confirmation that he is" said Mikhail Korniyenko, temporarily Minister of Internal Affairs, commenting the detention in St. Petersburg.

According to investigation information, the total amount of stolen funds is almost USD 100 mln.

The Rough Guide to Taxation in Ukraine 2007

I'd like to present you a "The Rough Guide to Taxation in Ukraine 2007" from Deloitte Ukraine. I see that Ukraine RE market newbies pay much attention to legal issues, as well as blog audience. For sure, for more mature players it could be quite well known, but additional information from respected source does make sense to know.

I appreciate to Brian Mulholland, Director of Tax and Legal - friend of mine and blog' reader, too. There is no advertising from my part. Just well done job.

Table of content

• Investment in Ukraine
• Types of Business Entities
• Taxation in Ukraine
• Taxation of Businesses in Ukraine
• Transfer Pricing
• Taxation of Cross-Border Transactions
• Taxation of Individuals
• Customs Duties
• Currency Control
• Contacts at Deloitte CIS

What do you know about Google?

Thanks to blogger called Sterenta, now we are all know that my Ukraine Real Estate Market is #1 for "Ukraine real estate market" search on Google! Taking into the fact that Yahoo was bitten recently, that great fuel for my future blogging. Hope to surprise you again.

I love it!

I Did It!

So, it took some time, efforts and passion to make Ukrainian Real Estate Market #1 in Yahoo with the one of the most important word combination for people who looking for info and news form Ukraine. " real estate Ukraine" with #1 - that's my personal goal I was able to do. And please note, that other winning places are mine as well (via mirrors on Netscape) But there are no reason to stop. I have many more ambitious plans regarding this web-site. And I need your support and assisting to go further. Let's make it!

Thanks for all of you.

Best regards, Sergey.

Ukraine Macroeconomic Situation - July 2007, From Sigma Bleyzer

SUMMARY

[1] The Ukrainian economy has continued to show robust growth, demonstrating a solid immunity to political instability.

[2] For January-May, real GDP grew by 7.9% yoy. Due to the droughty weather, the grain harvest is expected to be notably lower than previously expected. However, poor agricultural performance is unlikely to have a substantial effect on total GDP growth in 2007.

[3] For the first five months of the year, the state budget ran an unusually high surplus for this period due to higher than expected budget revenues and under-execution of budget expenditures.

[4] Despite a high fiscal surplus so far, the government resumed issuance of external and domestic debt in June to secure enough funds for the planned budget deficit.

[5] The consumer price index keeps reporting double-digit growth; however, the government forecast of 7.5% year-end inflation may still be realistic.

[6] Ukraine continued to demonstrate very strong export performance this year; however, buoyant import growth resulted in further widening of the merchandise trade deficit. A modest service trade surplus and a larger deficit in the income account caused the current account deficit to widen by almost 70% yoy in 1Q 2007.

[7] Robust capital inflow covered not only the CA gap, but also helped replenish the gross international reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine.

[8] In mid-June, the EU and Ukraine officially started negotiations on a new enhanced agreement.

Download full report

Shadow Economy Still High

By Stephen Bandera, Kyiv Post

Nearly 40 percent of Ukraine's economy remains in the shadows, according to a recent report from a government think tank.

The experts of the State Scientific Research Institute of Informatization and Economic Modeling (DNDIIME) estimated on July 27 that Ukraine's "shadow GDP" will amount to Hr 443 billion (nearly $89 billion) in 2007, while the country's "official" gross domestic product will exceed Hr 692 billion ($138 billion).

The institute that provides research services for the Economy Ministry estimates that Ukraine's economy will exceed Hr 1 trillion ($200 billion) in value in 2007.

DNDIIME's methodology is based on a complex calculation of macro-economic factors ranging from demand for cash in the economy and term deposit rates offered by banks to real income levels.

The shadowiness of the economy is caused by the "unjustifiably high burden on personal and business incomes. An inexplicable paradox exists: Labor is the most utilized factor in production and is the main source of budgetary revenues at the same time," according to the report.

"It's well-known that Ukraine currently occupies an unflattering position in the world 'GDP per capita' rating at a time when the country is very rich in natural and human resources," said Yuri Kharazishvilli, deputy director of DNDIIME and one of the report's authors.

"If we are so rich, then why are we so poor?"

"One of the primary indicators that provide the real picture of a country's socio-economic development is the share of payments for labor in GDP," Kharazishvilli said.

Wages in Ukraine account for slightly more than a quarter of the country's GDP. By contrast, that number stands at nearly 60 percent in the United States, while wages account for half of GDP in countries like Germany and France.

According to experts, the shadow segment of average monthly wages in Ukraine amounts to Hr 2,700 ($540), more than double of the official average monthly wage of Hr 1,300. Combined, the average monthly wage in Ukraine is around Hr 4,000 the study found.

The experts noted that in 2006, the value of underground economic activity in the industrial sector stood at 132 percent. In other words, shadow industrial activity surpassed officially-reported industrial activity by nearly one-third.

The analogous figure stood at 73 percent in agriculture, 71 percent in construction and 32 percent in the services sector.

Another government report based on data from the State Statistics Committee painted a somewhat rosier picture of the shadow economy claiming that it stood at 27 percent of GDP in 2006, or 2 percent lower than in 2005.

The report, made public on the Ministry of Economy website on July 27, did note that underground economic activity is on the rise in real estate transactions, insurance and automotive sales and remains high in the construction and wood-processing sectors.

Economist and former cabinet minister Viktor Lysytskyi said that "we can argue about exact shadow economy statistics forever." "But it's absolutely certain that the shadow sector is enormous," he added.

According to Lysytskyi, large shadow economies are present in most post-Soviet states and Ukraine is not alone in this respect. "I am sure that in Russia the shadow economy is the same in terms of its share in the economy."

Nevertheless, the fact that such a large part of the economy is underground has its blessings, as the economy develops certain immunity to external factors.

Original article

Sergey Kalinin's Interview For 1st Business Channel

This is one of my interviews for TV, regarding to office market in Kiev. And you can take a look on building where I'm working, the Leonardo Business Center. Very nice place :)

Interview with Mirax' CEO

From Business Ukraine #15

Short News - Chairman of XXI Century Predicts Ongoing Pricing Growth

The residential prices won't down within next 5-7 years, said Lev Partskhaladze, Chairman of well-known Ukrainian developer XXI Century. His opinion is based on lack of new projects in Ukrainian market.

I don't know what really drove him to the such forecast, perhaps the desire for keeping all things happen. Or last chance to stop bubble collapse?

Metro's CEO Says About...

I've found interesting document - transcript of Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber's speech at Annual Business Press Conference of the METRO Group. He even said couple words about Ukraine :)

Download

Kinakh, Oleksenko, Cotton Answers in Time To Invest

Another audio file from Time To Invest IV Kiev. Ruslan Oleksenko (DEOL Partners), Nick Cotton (DTZ), Yaroslav Kinakh (XXI Century) speaking.

Download, 6 Mb

Ruslan Oleksenko at Time To Invest Kiev IV

A little bit late, but I'm continuing to post most interesting info from Time To Invest Kiev IV. Now you could meet with Ruslan Oleksenko's speech, DEOL Partners Managing Partner . I've uploaded audio of his presentation, 8 Mb.

NEST reported their 2006 results

Kiev development company NEST finished 2006 with a net profit of UAH 6.192 mln.

Assets of the company were valued at UAH 113.232 mln. by the end of 2006, and net profits as UAH 25.838 mln. In 2005 NEST's net profit was UAH 3.071 mln.

In 2006 the company started the operations in business center Renaissance located at 24 Vorovskogo Street in Shevchenkivskyi district. The total spacein this B class center is 17K sqm.

According to data of the Agency for Development of the Stock Market's Infrastructure by late 2005, 95.7% of the company's shares were owned by Volodymyr Trofymenko, a supervisory board member.