Financial-Industrial Groups at the Markets for Corporate Control and Investments: The Case of Ukraine

Abstract

This article is devoted to the research of the functioning of financial and industrial groups on Ukraine’s markets for corporate control and investments. The largest financial and industrial groups of Ukraine -- “Finance & Credit”, “Privat-Invest”, “Ukrsibbank” and “The Industrial Union of Donbass” -- were studied during the research. The research revealed the most important criteria that financial and industrial groups have to meet for the efficient functioning on the Ukrainian markets for corporate control and investments. These are the following criteria: a powerful bank capable of carrying out the function of cash generator within a group; high degree of business diversification; optimum concentration of property; minimal hierarchy of the system of corporate control. The research has studied such criterion as transparency of the structure of property, which is highly valued by the corporate governance in other countries. In Ukraine, the structure of ownership of most of efficiently functioning financial and industrial groups is not transparent, which is paradoxical. This can be explained by the lack of proper legislation for protection of property rights, low activity of small shareholders and reluctance of financial and industrial groups themselves to make transparent the motives of their participation on the market for corporate control.