Poroshenko did everything in his power to sell Roshen, but the conflict with Russia stood in the way – the investors were afraid of buying in Ukraine, Giovanni Salvetti, head of Rothschild operations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) told Ukrainska Pravda.
He noted that the bank contacted all main world players who work in this sector, as well as a few investment funds.
“It’s necessary to understand that only the global-scale players can afford to buy such a big company, the worth of which under normal conditions will be a few billions of dollars,” he said.
Salvetti went on to say that all the potential buyers turned out to be uninterested in the possibility.
“The Ukrainian-Russian crisis was at its peak, and its development was unpredictable, especially then. Basically, all interested parties told us that they weren’t ready to undertake such a high risk and politely refused the possibility,” he said,
“They all liked the company, but the context was way too risky, and they weren’t ready for the deal,” he added.
According to the Rothschild's head, Poroshenko’s decision to give his part of the company’s assets into the hands of a blind trust was the most transparent and the only working option to effectively take away Poroshenko’s power over the company.
“This decision was the best alternative out of the international practice for such situations,” Salvetti summed up.
