The competition run by the Agency for Recovery and Management of Assets (ARMA) to select a manager for the corporate rights of IDS Ukraine — the owner of the 'Morshynska' and 'Myrhorodska' brands — has entered a new stage. After the auction winner, UKA 'Ukrkapital', dropped out of the procedure, the agency began evaluating the price proposal of the next participant — 'Prioritas' Legal Bureau LLC. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the company's justification for its price proposal, which came into the editors' possession.

Why 'Ukrkapital' dropped out of the competition

UKA 'Ukrkapital', which won the ARMA auction, was disqualified from the procedure after the tender committee rejected its explanation of its readiness to manage the IDS Ukraine assets for 0.01% of net profit. According to the company's own calculations, servicing the contract would have cost around 10 million hryvnia, while the expected remuneration was only 109,900 hryvnia per year. The gap between costs and revenue made participation in the competition economically unviable for the management company.

The 'Prioritas' proposal: a 0.9% commission and a three-person staff

Next in line for evaluation was 'Prioritas' Legal Bureau LLC, which proposed a commission of 0.9% of net profit. According to the justification, the law firm's staff consists of only three people. To manage the IDS Ukraine assets, the company plans to engage outside specialists on an outsourcing basis. The contract director, according to the document, is planned to be hired only from October 1. The company's founder is to perform the duties of legal deputy for the minimum wage, while a financial analyst and other relevant specialists are to be brought in from outside. According to 'Prioritas' calculations, this approach will save around 550,000 hryvnia in personnel costs.

Managing a 4-billion-hryvnia business: questions about the bidder's resources

Thus, a law firm with a three-person staff plans to manage a business with annual revenue of nearly 4 billion hryvnia by engaging outside specialists on an outsourcing basis. This approach calls into question whether the bidder has its own experience and resources to manage the largest player in the Ukrainian bottled water market. In its justification, the company notes that it plans to refine the quantitative targets for managing the asset after gaining access to the enterprise's documents. A ready-made development plan for IDS Ukraine is not provided in the document. As an example of potential development, 'Prioritas' mentions its influence on the sports equipment manufacturer 'Terra Incognita'. Among the proposed ideas are creating lines of sports drinks on the IDS Ukraine facilities, as well as exploiting market opportunities against the backdrop of problems with Coca-Cola production in Ukraine.

Insurance, asset valuation, and the threat of international courts

The justification separately addresses asset insurance. 'Prioritas' notes that it received letters from insurance companies stating that no corresponding product exists on the market. As a result, insurance costs for an asset valued, by the company's own estimate, at between 5 and 8 billion hryvnia, were excluded from the budget. At the same time, the competition is taking place against the backdrop of the absence of a current independent valuation of the IDS Ukraine assets: the validity period of the last valuation expired on 6 September 2026. The absence of a new market valuation may create legal uncertainty in the management of the property, threatening to understate guaranteed payments to the budget and to cause billion-hryvnia losses to the state due to possible legal challenges. It was also previously reported that the British shareholders of 'Morshynska' stated their intention to appeal to international courts, citing ARMA's attempts to deprive them of their assets.

Contradictory data

Various sources and documents contain diverging estimates of the value of the IDS Ukraine assets. In 'Prioritas's justification, the asset is valued in the range of 5 to 8 billion hryvnia, whereas in publications related to the initial listing of the assets for competition, a figure of around 5.5 billion hryvnia is mentioned. The difference in valuations may be due to different calculation methodologies or to the fact that some sources operate with outdated data. Moreover, the very fact of the absence of a valid independent valuation (which expired on 6 September) makes any figures preliminary and subject to review. The ARMA tender committee has not yet published a final decision on the selection of the manager, leaving open the question of whether 'Prioritas' will be admitted to management or the competition will be reconsidered.