Investors appeal to Poroshenko over unethical conduct of Investment Capital Ukraine company

A group of Ukrainian investors affected by the actions of the "Investment Capital Ukraine" (ICU) group has sent an open letter to People's Deputy Petro Poroshenko. The investors are asking Poroshenko, as an authoritative leader of Ukrainian business, to help resolve the conflict situation, UNN reports with reference to the appeal.

"Dear Petro Oleksiyovych, we ask you to use your authority and influence on the business environment, and to bring to the attention of the owners of the ICU company the opinion about the erroneous and dishonest nature of their actions," the letter says.

In their appeal, the investors point to the unethical behavior of ICU, which is blocking the restructuring process of Loan Participation Notes (LPN) issued by E.M.I.S. Finance B.V.

The initiators of the letter emphasize that they respect the right to privacy and independent conduct of affairs by each investor. However, today's actions of ICU significantly and negatively affect the interests of more than a hundred Ukrainian families. More than 170 small bondholders have faced the fact that ICU ignores the opinion and rights of other investors and acts exclusively in its own interests.

As stated in the letter, investors invested in securities of E.M.I.S. Finance B.V., which in previous years were sold and serviced through a number of financial institutions, including Sense Bank. However, after the introduction of sanctions against the former owners of the bank, the servicing of these papers was stopped. At the same time, the Dutch company E.M.I.S. Finance B.V. offered a restructuring of obligations, which was agreed to by the majority of LPN security holders. Unfortunately, ICU, which holds a controlling stake in two of the ten LPN series, opposed this restructuring. This, according to investors, blocked a fair resolution for hundreds of small Ukrainian investors. They believe that ICU adheres to the strategy of a so-called "vulture fund" — a fund that buys up debts at a discount and waits for the issuer to recover to maximize profits.

It is worth noting that ICU publicly promised to meet halfway and allow co-investors to exchange their LPNs for restructured papers, but did not keep its promise.

"Let, investors believe, ICU implement their projects with elements of their usual aggressive business manner wherever they want, but not in Ukraine, in conditions of war, political instability and large-scale human losses. Earning on blood and tears has never commanded respect, and only provoked decisive retaliatory actions," the letter says.

Investors believe that Petro Poroshenko, who actively helps the Armed Forces of Ukraine, opposes "Business on Blood" and is himself under unfair pressure, could influence the co-owners of the ICU investment company and convince them to listen to the opinion of the majority of investors in order to find a way out of the "dead end" and make a balanced and fair decision in the interests of all investors.

"If Petro Poroshenko's authority does not lead to the normalization of the situation, the group of investors intends to seek a public assessment of ICU's actions and will appeal to the financial regulators of Ukraine and Great Britain," the appeal concludes.