The top 20 Ukrainian largest investors, including private companies that have contributed to business and economic development over the two years of full-scale Russian invasion, was published for the first time by Forbes Ukraine on May 9.
These investors have collectively invested a total of UAH 173 billion ($5 billion). Among the top 20 are farmers, telecom operators, gas stations, logistics companies, and four retailers: Epicenter, Fozzy Group, ATB, and Aurora.
The top retailer is Epicenter, a home improvement hypermarket chain owned by Oleksandr and Halyna Herega, which ranks third overall. The company’s capital investments, known as CAPEX, amount to UAH 14.2 billion (nearly $355 million) in 2022-2023, with a CAPEX-to-sales ratio of 11%.
Fozzy Group, a retailer co-owned by Volodymyr Kostelman, Oleh Sotnikov, and Roman Chyhyry, ranks 12th overall. The company had CAPEX of UAH 6.6 billion ($165 million) and a ratio of 3% over the two-year war period.
ATB, an all-Ukrainian retailer owned by Hennadiy Butkevych, Yevhen Yermakov, Viktor Karachun, and CEO Boris Markov, ranks 14th overall. The company’s CAPEX amounted to UAH 4.5 billion ($112 million), with a ratio to sales of 1%.
The last retailer on the list is Aurora, a one-dollar store chain owned by Lev Zhidenko, Taras Panasenko, and Horizon Capital. The retailer’s CAPEX was UAH 1.8 billion (nearly $45 million), accounting for 4% of revenue.
“The share of investment in GDP averaged 15% over the five years before the war,” Forbes Ukraine wrote.
“The norm for so-called expanded reproduction is 20% or more. If it is less, the economy is eating its own future. In fact, this means a slow decline in the country’s economic prospects. In 2023, due to business activity and significant public investment, mainly in defense, this figure was 17%.”
This follows an earlier report by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting’s (IER) economic monitoring on May 21 that showed slowdown of Ukraine’s GDP growth amid Russian attacks on its energy system, with a 4.1% growth rate in April compared to 4.8% in March, 5% in February, and 5.2% in January.