Ukraine has conducted a survey on the number and direction of businesses with foreign capital. Find out in which regions such organisations are the most numerous and where investments are more often coming from

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In 2023, the total revenue of companies with foreign investments in Ukraine amounted to UAH 189 billion. Just over 2.9 thousand such companies are registered in the Ukrainian Register, according to analytics by the R&D centre YouControl.

Between 24 February 2022 and 30 April 2024, the ownership structure of 3,570 legal entities included beneficiaries or participants from foreign countries. In addition, 2950 new companies with foreign capital were registered during this period.

Companies by region

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs (USR), 2903 companies with foreign investments are registered in the capital. There are about 800 such organisations in Lviv region. 

Significant amounts of foreign investment in the form of equity participation are also observed in Odesa, Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv regions.

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Sectoral distribution

44% of the companies surveyed with foreign investment operate in the wholesale and retail trade, as well as in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Foreign investors are also active in the manufacturing industry, professional, scientific and technical activities, construction and real estate, transport and IT.

Of the companies analysed, five are in bankruptcy: four with beneficiaries from Uzbekistan and one with a beneficiary from Kazakhstan. In addition, 48 companies are in the process of ceasing operations, of which 14 were registered between February 2022 and April 2024. In 15 companies that are in the process of winding up, the beneficiaries are citizens of Uzbekistan. 25 companies on the list were liquidated, 17 of which ceased operations in 2023. The beneficiaries of seven of these liquidated companies were Hungarian nationals.

Over the past two years, more than 110 countries have invested in Ukrainian companies through equity participation. The ownership structure of 1,500 Ukrainian companies now includes investments from Uzbekistan. Turkey ranks second in terms of the number of companies with foreign co-owners, with 623 companies, and the United Kingdom is third with 619 companies with foreign investments.

During the full-scale war, the ownership structure of more than 500 companies was expanded to include representatives of Kazakhstan. Companies and individuals from the so-called "offshore zones" also became co-owners of Ukrainian firms: Cyprus (205 companies), the Seychelles (391), the Marshall Islands (111), Belize (86) and others. Among European countries, the most active investors were companies and individuals from Poland (244) and Germany (182). Investments from the United States in the form of contributions to the charter capital were received by 239 companies.

By the way, earlier we told you which businesses were most often closed in Ukraine during the full-scale war.

Also during the war, the participants/beneficiaries of 19 companies with foreign investments had citizenship or a place of registration in the russian federation. Another 31 companies have co-owners from countries allied to russia or countries supporting military aggression against Ukraine. These are mostly investors from Iran and Syria. Of the thirty companies, 14 are engaged in trade, four in IT, and three in real estate.

If you need advice on various business issues, we recommend that you seek professional help. Visit Ukraine lawyers will help you with all the nuances and pitfalls. To apply for a consultation, please follow the link.

We remind you! Opening your own restaurant is an asterisked task, both in Ukraine and abroad. As Igor Pokachalov noted, if you are planning to do this now, think again. However, everything is possible, especially if you have a strategy, a plan and a specialist who will tell you about all the important nuances and coordinate your actions. Read more about the restaurant market and starting a new business in this niche in 2024 in our article.

Want to know more? Read the latest news and useful materials about Ukraine and the world in the News section.

Ihor Usyk is the Head of Legal Department at Visit Ukraine

If you want to start your own business in Ukraine, you can get advice from my colleagues.
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