On Tuesday, August 4, 2020, there was an official announcement that the DCH group owned by Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi reached an agreement with the Chinese investors representing Skyrizon on the joint development of aircraft building plant PJSC ‘Motor Sich’ located in Zaporizhzhia.
Boris Kushniruk, the economic analyst, is sure that Ukraine will not raise such a giant on its own and without serious investors ‘Motor Sich’ will repeat the fate of many industrial enterprises destroyed in recent decades.
‘Ukraine will not raise “Motor Sich” on its own; international investors are needed. Legally, the enterprise is already owned by Chinese companies. Mr Yaroslavskyi, as a successful businessman, will undoubtedly be able to restore the plant with his partners. We need to do everything to ensure that the opportunities of “Motor Sich” will not be destroyed like many other objects of industrial potential that crashed in our country during the years of independence,’ Kushniruk said. The expert is convinced that the figure of Mr Yaroslavskyi will contribute to the settlement of foreign policy tensions around the plant in the current situation. This is especially important since ‘Motor Sich’ is the operator of the global machine-building market and is closely integrated into the system of world economic relations. ‘Yaroslavskyi is definitely not going to sit back in Ukraine. The agreements that he plans to do will not shake the relationship,’ says Boris Kushniruk.
According to the opinion of Aleksandr Okhrimenko, Director of the Ukrainian Analytical Centre, the appearance of a reputable Ukrainian investor as Yaroslavskyi in the discourse around ‘Motor Sich’ will allow the President and the Cabinet of Ministers to solve the situation with honour, which, violates the rights of the current Chinese owners and investors.
'There are only a few plants like “Motor Sich” in the world. I think everybody has learned that only a few countries can build aeroplanes. But few people know that it is even more challenging to build engines. And, of course, the world’s leading economies are looking closely at “Motor Sich”-like enterprises from the position of who owns it, how to get it or shorten the hand of competitors. Therefore, the “Yaroslavskyi Factor” is a kind of lifeline for the Ukrainian authorities. It is just the right time for the Ze-team to show foresight as the governance of the Antimonopoly Committee changed. That is, to give China (that is our No.1 trade partner, by the way) a signal – since there is a Ukrainian guarantee that production will remain in Ukraine, own it in peace, work for the good of our countries, develop “Motor Sich”,’ says Okhrimenko.
Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi is one of the wealthiest Ukrainian businessmen, solely owning the conglomerate DCH group. In recent years, he has been actively interested in industrial assets, known for projects of financial rehabilitation and modernization of the Kharkiv Tractor Plant, Dnipro Metallurgical Plant, etc. He built and owns the operating company of the Kharkiv International Airport, owned ‘Kharkiv Airlines’ for some time, invests in the construction of a terminal complex of the new airport in Dnipro.
The Private Joint-Stock Company ‘Motor Sich’ has been operating since 1907. The Chinese companies acquired it in 2016. Currently, the development of the enterprise is blocked by the decisions of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the actions of the Security Service of Ukraine. ‘Motor Sich’ is also mentioned in the context of the trade confrontation between China and the United States. The State Concern ‘Ukroboronprom’ considered the possibility of entering into the authorized capital of ‘Motor Sich’, but it is no longer relevant for it since June 2020.
