OPZ is being prepared for a new sale: four investors have expressed interest
17 April 16:21
Ukraine plans to put the Odesa Port Plant (OPP)—which failed to sell last fall—up for privatization this summer.
This was announced by State Property Fund Chairman Dmytro Natalukha in an interview with The New York Times, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to him, four investors—three from the West and one from the Middle East—have already signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to consider potential participation in the privatization.
“Let’s be honest, this is a complex asset. But it also offers great opportunities,” he said.
Back in the day, it was a foreign investor who helped establish this plant. Oil tycoon Armand Hammer, nicknamed “Moscow’s capitalist comrade” for his close ties to the communists, financed the plant’s construction in the early 1970s.
According to Natalukha, some officials proposed selling the plant for 1 hryvnia—simply to get rid of the asset. However, he believes the enterprise is an “extremely interesting asset,” especially given the rise in global fertilizer prices due to disruptions in the Middle East.
“I think if the plant is sold, it will be a historic event. It will send a very strong signal both within the country—to the elites and the government—and beyond its borders—to foreign investors,” Natalukha said.
The Odesa Port Plant (OPP) is Ukraine’s largest state-owned chemical company, specializing in the production of ammonia, urea, and liquid nitrogen. The plant was built with the participation of a foreign investor—oil magnate Armand Hammer, who was even called “Moscow’s capitalist comrade” due to his ties to the USSR. In the 1970s, he financed the construction of the plant, which operated on cheap natural gas and supplied fertilizers throughout the Soviet Union via a maritime terminal on the Black Sea and a pipeline system connected to Russia.
After gaining independence, Ukraine attempted to privatize OPZ at least six times, but without success. The last attempt took place in November 2025, when the enterprise was put up for sale for 4.49 billion UAH. In August 2024, the plant attempted to partially restart ammonia production, but this failed due to security risks. During the full-scale war, OPZ’s infrastructure is partially used for transshipping grain cargo.
In September 2021, the company completely halted production due to a sharp rise in gas prices. Against this backdrop, on August 26, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the terms for the privatization of OPZ with a starting price of 4.5 billion UAH (about $108 million), marking the fourth attempt to sell the asset.
The company’s financial performance has deteriorated significantly: according to YouControl, in 2024, the net loss increased by 68% to UAH 1.84 billion on revenue of UAH 878.16 million. By comparison, in 2021, the plant reported a net profit of UAH 25.86 million on revenue of UAH 2.1 billion.
