Ukraine has officially completed the privatization of the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), one of the largest producers of titanium concentrate in Europe. The investor was the company "Tsemin Ukraine", part of the Azerbaijani Neqsol Holding, owned by businessman Nasib Hasanov. The amount of the deal is UAH 3.94 billion. Formally, it is a market. In fact, it is the final point in a long-term scheme of systematic robbery of the state.
OGKK is not just a state-owned enterprise. It is a resource base with an export potential of hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Since 2015, the company has demonstrated incredible profits:
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2015: UAH 773 million in profit
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2017: UAH 443.7 million with revenue of UAH 2.77 billion.
But after 2017, profitability dropped sharply, and since 2019, official profit has disappeared altogether.
In 2023, the company declared a loss of UAH 481 million. According to documents, it is bankrupt, but in reality, it is an asset prepared for sale with cleaned-up reporting.
If we take the average profitability of the “healthy” period (≈41%), then in 2019–2023, the OGCC should have brought in over UAH 5 billion in net profit. But there is none.
The state's real losses, taking into account optimization, withdrawal through gaskets and traders, are over UAH 14.3 billion.
The scheme looks like this:
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Operating expenses are “inflated”: repairs, logistics, marketing through affiliated companies.
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Selling through traders: underestimating the export price, profit remains “behind the scenes”.
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Outsourcing and fictitious services: siphoning off money in the form of “expenses.”.
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Zero profitability: the state receives no taxes — because “there is no profit.”.
In 2023, the State Property Fund will put the OGHC up for auction. One winner is “Tsemin Ukraine”.
– Price — UAH 3.94 billion
– Annual revenue in 2021 — UAH 4.59 billion
– Estimated cost of resource base — significantly higher
That is, an asset that under normal conditions could bring in a billion every year was sold for less than a year's income, and with promises to "invest" 400 million UAH - a trifle compared to the real potential.
Formally, an investor. In fact, a new beneficiary of the old scheme.
NEQSOL Holding has already “saved” Russian business in Ukraine by buying out Vodafone Ukraine from structures linked to MTS/Yevtushenkov. This time — it is “saving” the Ukrainian titanium industry. And again — without competition, without public analysis of contracts, without guarantees of returning even a penny of real profit to the state.
The United Mining and Chemical Company is an example of how a strategic resource that could become a source of stable income for the army, education, and medicine is turning into another feeder for "those close to us.".
From “state control” to losses, from “reforms” to the withdrawal of money through offshore accounts, from “privatization” to a new circle of uncontrolled enrichment.
Ukraine was robbed again — only this time not “on the topic,” but “on the titan.” And again — legally, publicly, under the guise of reforms.
