Magonova and Partners

The biggest privatization reform in Ukraine’s history advocated by Magonova & Partners has successfully passed the First Reading.

The biggest privatization reform in Ukraine’s history advocated by Magonova & Partners has successfully passed the First Reading.

Privatization in Ukraine is a crucial process to lighten the pressure on the state and involve new investors for the assets which management should not be part of the state’s duty.

For the past several years the privatization was gaining momentum and the time for the massive structural changes has come. Draft Law “On promoting investment through privatization and leasing" is a set of 4 Draft Laws that aims to improve to the core how privatization, leasing and management of state assets is done.  It includes changes in 27 laws and 3 codes (Budget, Tax and Criminal Procedure).  After the bill is adopted, it is estimated to have a significant economic impact over the next 5 years including 100-120 billion UAH of additional revenue for the State budget and GDP growth by 200 billion UAH due to additional investment attracted by privatization.

The peculiarity of this Draft Law is that such massive improvements it proposes unquestionably interconnect with the multiple layers of interests, hence the usual advocacy process was not enough. Since the start of the reform, numerous skeptical Members of Parliament in the lobbies have named a Draft Law “Titanic”meaning that it is practically impossible to pass such complicated changes.

Magonova & Partners took part in all levels of advocating the Draft Law for the State Property Fund of Ukraine - from registration and preliminary negotiations with the stakeholders up to creating a multi-level advocating system. In 8 months of advocacy M&P managed to make the Draft Law supported by more than 30 Ukrainian and International business associations, consolidate 44 MP’s to initiate and sign the Draft Law as well as build a frontline of 100 MP’s for raising the Government’s awareness about it.

Today, the first and main Draft Law has successfully passed the first reading with the 257 MP’s votes for it. Despite the primary skepticism, the adaptive advocacy and PR strategy with the precise execution gave an opportunity to move forward one of the most significant reforms in the time of the independence of Ukraine. The main workload is still awaiting ahead, nevertheless today’s passed First Reading sent a clear signal to local and international partners - Ukraine is the democratic state in which the proper advocacy and communication are able to move the reforms forward.