KIEV: Kernel agroholding, a large agricultural company in Ukraine, has said that the raid conducted by representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in its central office in Kyiv on May 12 negates the multiple efforts by the country’s senior management to attract foreign capital to Ukraine.
“Kernel serves as an international marker of Ukraine’s agriculture sector investment attractiveness and Ukraine’s overall reputational reliability,” the company said in an open letter signed by Board of Directors and sent to Ukraine’s top officials.
The company said that this situation clearly sends a negative and threatening signal to current and potential international investors. “Without changing the style and philosophy of law enforcement agencies’ approach to the business community, any statements on the improvement of the investment climate will be empty declarations,” Kernel said. The company’s shares have been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) since 2007. Its current capitalization level is the largest among all Ukrainian companies listed on the western markets and exceeds $1 billion.
The company said that during the raid, 350 employees of the company were locked in the building from 13.00 to 19.00. “Without assessing the format of the search, we want to note that all 15 company documents seized by the Security Service of Ukraine could have been handed over willingly within 10 minutes as Kernel repeatedly offered to the representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine. We believe that the representatives of the Security Service could have spent those six hours more efficiently, given the high level of corruption in Ukraine and ongoing terrorist threat,” the company said.
Kernel said that the company is confident in our legal position and will prove it in the courts. “In our opinion, the case used to conduct the search was initiated based on distorted facts and has no prospects. We have repeatedly proved our position in courts, regardless of changes in political power and rotations in law enforcement agencies. This situation will be no exception,” the company said. Kernel said that at the moment, Kernel’s headquarters and all other divisions are operating as usual.
Kernel, the largest producer and exporter of agricultural products from Ukraine to the world markets, employs more than 14 thousand Ukrainians. Its tax payments to Ukraine’s national budget exceeded UAH 1 billion in 2015. Over the past five years, the company invested in excess of UAH 18 billion into the country’s agricultural industry. The company’s shareholders include the largest pension and investment funds in Europe and the United States, while the world’s largest banks are among our partners.
“We are ready to contribute as much as possible to any of your efforts to establish a transparent, responsible, and mutually beneficial relationship between business and government. As a public company, we are always ready to support you in this matter and to work toward strengthening the international economic reputation of Ukraine,” the company said. Kernel is a vertically integrated company which has been operating in the Ukrainian agribusiness sector since 1994. The group produces sugar and sunflower oil, distributes bottled oil under the brand names Schedry Dar, Stozhar and Chumak Zolota, exports oil and grain and provides elevator storage services for grain and oilseeds.
