Politician and businessman. What assets could the state seize from Poroshenko?

Petro Poroshenko will be written about in history textbooks as the fifth president of Ukraine. However, the former head of state was successful for most of his life as both a politician and an entrepreneur.

In 2021, Forbes Ukraine estimated Poroshenko's assets at $1.6 billion. A similar valuation was made in 2013, prior to his presidency. With the onset of the large-scale war in 2022, the politician's property and companies halved in value, dropping to $730 million.

The largest and most notable assets that formed the basis of Poroshenko's wealth include the Roshen confectionery corporation, the Bogdan automobile factories, the agricultural company Ukrprominvest-Agro, the TV channels Channel 5 and Pryamyi, the Kuznia na Rybalskom factory, the International Investment Bank, and the fitness club 5 Element.

The business empire of the fifth president has significantly shrunk in recent years. It all began in 2014 with the transfer of part of the assets into a "blind trust", and continued in 2019 with a large number of companies being re-registered in the name of his son, Oleksiy.

The EP excludes the political aspect of the personal sanctions against Poroshenko and investigates which of his assets the state may block or even nationalize.

What sanctions did the NSDC impose?

On February 12, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) blocked the assets of People's Deputy Petro Poroshenko, as stated in the appendix to the decision published on the president's website. On February 13, the decision was approved by Volodymyr Zelensky.

In addition to the prohibition on the disposal and use of property, Poroshenko will not be able to conduct trade operations, transfer funds abroad, fulfill financial obligations, or increase the authorized capital of enterprises.

It remains unclear whether the former president's property will be confiscated and whether it will be transferred to the management of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). However, one fact is known - the blocking has no end date, meaning it has an unspecified status of "forever".

Sources from "Ukrainian Truth" in the law enforcement agencies reported that the sanctions against the fifth president were introduced at the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers for three reasons:

• permission for the state energy company "Centrenergo" to purchase coal from the occupied territories of Donbas during his presidency;
• serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Yanukovych's government;
• operating assets in Russia and Crimea - the Roshen factory in Lipetsk and the Sevastopol Marine Plant.

According to sources from EP, the government considered the sanctions proposal against Poroshenko on February 12 at 18:00 during an extraordinary closed meeting, which was "postponed many times".

Roshen

The Roshen confectionery corporation is the largest candy producer in Ukraine. The confectionery business accounted for 69% of Poroshenko's wealth structure in 2021, according to Forbes Ukraine.

Roshen ranks 24th in the global industry ranking of confectionery companies by Candy Industry. In 2023, the total revenue of all legal entities within Roshen amounted to 31.9 billion UAH, and in 2024, it increased by 15% - approximately up to 36.7 billion UAH. The corporation's profit was 5.6 billion UAH in 2023.

In 2019, after losing the presidential election, Poroshenko began re-registering the corporation's legal entities in the name of his eldest son, Oleksiy. Oleksiy Petrovich is now the ultimate beneficial owner of both the factories and the corporation as a whole.

Poroshenko's senior lawyers reported that in 2019, Oleksiy Poroshenko signed a contract with an international company and went to work abroad. According to sources from the "European Solidarity" party, he is currently abroad.

The Roshen factory in Lipetsk was nationalized by Russia in 2024. The factory in Budapest, Hungary, was closed by Roshen due to unprofitability. The corporation now has only one factory abroad - in Klaipeda (Lithuania).

Finances

Poroshenko has a considerable amount of cash and funds in bank accounts. This is the second-largest asset for the people's deputy.

According to his declaration, Poroshenko holds cash of $60.1 million, 329 million UAH, 236 thousand euros, and 138 thousand pounds sterling. Notably, $60 million in cash weighs about 600 kg and occupies a volume of 0.7 cubic meters. His savings in hryvnias weigh about 380 kg.

Poroshenko has $14.3 million, 24.2 million UAH, and 5.4 million euros in bank accounts in Ukraine and abroad. Additionally, the deputy actively invests in Ukrainian and foreign securities and bonds.

His highest income in 2023 came from Rothschild Trust, to which he transferred management of Roshen during his presidency - 329.1 million UAH. Furthermore, Poroshenko received back funds invested in U.S. government bonds - 411.8 million UAH.

Poroshenko continues to own 65% of the shares of the International Investment Bank, with another 10% owned by his son.

In the declaration for 2023, it is indicated that he is the ultimate beneficial owner of the closed non-diversified corporate investment fund (ZNCIF) "Prime Assets Capital".

Such investment funds are used for business structuring, confidentiality of operations, asset protection from raider seizures, and attracting investments. However, the main advantage of ZNCIF is tax optimization. Investment institutions are essentially analogous to capital outflow tax: they are exempt from profit tax if funds are reinvested.

"Prime Assets Capital" is a key structure in Poroshenko's business. The fund holds stakes in nine companies owned by the former president or members of his family, according to data from the Youcontrol system. Poroshenko regularly declares income received from the fund (in 2023 - 8.3 million UAH).

As of September 2024, the fund's assets amounted to 8.2 billion UAH. According to EP, about 78% of the fund's assets were accounts receivable from Ewins Limited, which arose in 2018 when Poroshenko sold the Kuznia na Rybalskom factory to Serhiy Tihipko.

Kuznia na Rybalskom

Ewins Limited is Tihipko's company, which purchased "Kuznia" from Poroshenko and his business partner Ihor Kononenko in 2018 for $300 million. In 2022, Tihipko decided to divest the asset and resold the factory to investment banker Ihor Mazepa.

Tihipko and Mazepa did not disclose the transaction amount, citing the confidentiality of the commercial aspects of the deal. "I can only note that the assets included in the deal were significantly burdened with debts of Ewins and its companies," said the investment banker.</