MGZ tailings fields hung in the balance for three years: the State Property Fund of Ukraine announced saving the South from a catastrophe

Almost 3 years after the confiscation of assets of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, the State Property Fund of Ukraine completed the legal registration of the property of the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant. The real estate and vehicles of the enterprise were finally added to MGZ’s authorized capital, and the State Property Fund of Ukraine stated that this supposedly saved southern Ukraine from an environmental disaster.

In 2023 the High Anti-Corruption Court seized assets connected to Oleg Deripaska for the benefit of the state, among which were corporate rights to MGZ, hundreds of buildings, structures and vehicles.

However the property was confiscated in separate parts. As a result the legal entity MGZ existed separately, the real estate was accounted for separately, and the transport and production logistics also were not part of a single complex.

The State Property Fund explained that such a scheme was necessary so that the sanctioned owners would not have time to sell the plant off in parts. At the same time after the confiscation the state itself received a legally “dismantled” enterprise.

The most dangerous part of the problem became MGZ’s sludge fields. According to the SPFU, they effectively “hung in the air”, since the enterprise itself lost the legal grounds to properly maintain the associated facilities and carry out works to prevent an environmental disaster.

For residents of Mykolaiv, the villages of Lymany, Halytsynove and other adjacent territories, the problem of sludge storage facilities has long been more than just a legal issue. Korabelov.info has repeatedly reported on red sludge dusting, the risks of the fields drying out, a lack of funds for their maintenance and the threat of dust spreading into the air.

Over the past 2 years, employees of the SPFU’s Department for Sanctioned Assets, together with the MGZ team, identified, inspected and appraised the property of the industrial complex.

Overall specialists carried out a detailed inspection of more than 250 buildings and structures, as well as 103 vehicles.

The State Property Fund announced the completion of the legal unification of the plant’s property and the signing of the final acts.

“Today we proudly report: this marathon is complete! On June 19 and 26, 2026 the final acts were signed, according to which all real estate and transport officially returned “home” — to MGZ’s authorized capital. The authorized capital itself has been successfully increased”.

The SPFU called June 2026 a critical point. The increase in authorized capital needed to be reflected in the company’s financial statements for the first half of the year in order to move on to forming MGZ’s starting price.

Now the Fund states that it has obtained a single, integrated property complex and can form a pool of assets that will be sold together with the plant.

MGZ is planned to be put up for privatization auctions already in 2026. Earlier, in the large-scale privatization plan, expected proceeds from the sale of the enterprise were estimated at UAH 6.27 billion, and the auction was preliminarily planned for November-December 2026.

Previously we wrote:

• Equipment for the “red sludge”: MGZ receives machines for maintaining the sludge fields
• MGZ to be sold for almost the price of a Kyiv shopping mall: in the privatization plan the plant was valued at UAH 6.27 billion
• Kyiv officials came to admire MGZ: the plant is an asset, the sludge is almost a bonus too
• They want to sell MGZ successfully, but first they need to convince investors not to fear the war
• Almost 50 million tonnes of sludge and 16 instances of dusting: MGZ’s environmental problem reached the Government