Agro Gas Trading's (AGT) motivation in the Odesa Port Plant privatization is not speculative resale of the asset or solving the enterprise's old debt problems, but resuming production, returning the workforce and realizing the plant's industrial potential.
This was stated by AGT partner Oleksandr Gorbunenko in an interview with Yuriy Romanenko, answering questions about the company's reasons for interest in OPZ privatization.
According to Gorbunenko, the company proceeds from practical experience of many years of work at the plant:
"For us, the goal of acquisition is not solving the plant's old debt problems; what's important for us is launching the enterprise, returning the workforce to their workplaces, ensuring foreign currency revenue for the country, and realizing the potential that the enterprise has."
He added that AGT is aware of the complexity of the debt issue, but considers it an element of negotiations in case of stable plant operations.
"We understand that the debt obligations issue must also be resolved, but with predictable production volumes and the ability to plan financial indicators, conducting dialogue with creditors is much easier," Gorbunenko noted.
Gorbunenko emphasized that the company has experience restarting OPZ in 2019 after a prolonged shutdown, when AGT concluded a contract to supply tolling raw materials to the plant. During 2019-2021, AGT ensured delivery of nearly 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas, which allowed production of about 2 million tons of products. According to the AGT partner, this very experience demonstrates that the plant can be economically efficient with the right management model.
According to Gorbunenko, OPZ's future fate should be determined not by political discussions, but by economic logic, the enterprise's ability to work and deliver results to the state, region and agricultural sector.
AGT insists that the key factor for successful privatization should be not selling a "non-working asset," but creating conditions for production launch, restoring the plant's investment attractiveness and forming real competition among investors.
This very thing, the company emphasizes, will allow the state to obtain higher asset value, stable tax revenues and return the strategic enterprise to the role of one of the supporting elements of the country's food security.
In November 2025, the OPZ privatization auction was canceled, and AGT was not allowed to participate due to what AGT emphasizes were artificial obstacles. The next attempt to privatize OPZ will take place in 2026.