There have been recent attempts at a hostile buyout of the Research and Production Center “Borshchahivskiy Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant” (BCPP), which clearly show the involvement of its shareholder and simultaneously its competitor in the pharmaceutical market – Pharmaceutical Firm “Darnitsa”. However, anyone who is familiar with the pharmaceutical market knows that attempts to take over the company have been going on since 2015, when Darnitsa acquired 29.95% of BCPP shares previously owned by the municipal community of Kyiv – and the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine “did not notice” the signs of a monopoly forming within the industry.
This may have been due to the fact that Darnitsa’s management had close ties with the previous government and enjoyed its protection. The company’s CEO, Hlib Zagoriy, was elected to the parliament on the Petro Poroshenko Bloc’s list, and Oleksiy Filatov, a lawyer with ties to Poroshenko, was appointed deputy head of the Presidential Administration, who oversaw “reforming” the courts, which really just meant selecting their staff. In addition, Filatov was on friendly terms with Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and had nepotistic relations with the First Deputy Head of the Antimonopoly Committee, Maria Nizhnik. As a result, the individuals targeting BCPP were allowed to operate with impunity for many years.
The change of power in the country deprived Zagoriy of this protection, but the network of loyal judges, powerful media resources, and ambitious plans remained. Oleksiy Filatov and Maria Nizhnik left government service and returned to their law firm, “Law Firm ‘Aequo’ which immediately made material claims for a staggering 200 million UAH (4 750 000~ USD) against the management and key shareholders of BCPP, allegedly due to overpricing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Yet, the court case (No. 910/4707/21) ended in favor of BCPP: the representatives of the Borshchahivskiy plant proved in court (which was broadcasted live) that the prices for APIs were identical or even several times lower than those supplied by other companies, and that Darnitsa’s representatives had misled the court. Furthermore, numerous applications and complaints filed by Equo’s lawyers to the National Police, seeking to halt the plant’s operations, were dismissed due to lack of evidence. This year, two criminal cases, one opened on 9th of July 2021 (criminal proceeding № 12021100000000607) and the other on November 22nd 2021 (criminal proceeding № 52021000000000542), were closed after investigations found no signs of criminal wrongdoing by the plant’s management.
Having failed in Ukraine, representatives of Darnitsa and Hlib Zagoriy moved their lawsuits to Switzerland last year, where they tried to take possession of the general ledgers, primary accounting documents, financial statements, contracts, account statements, etc., filing a lawsuit allegedly on behalf of and in the interests of BCPP. However, it was soon revealed that their attorney, Antonia Mottironi, lacked the necessary authorization to act on their behalf. Additionally, the American lawyer, Ned Beal, was working under an agreement with… the law firm “Equo”. As a result, this case was also left without consideration, but a curious legal opinion from Equo lawyer Yevhen Levytskyi was made public. According to Levytskyi, Darnitsa needs control over BCPP’s assets in Switzerland to “guarantee the future execution of a positive court decision.”
Isn’t it strange that a lawyer, currently hiding abroad to dodge military mobilization in Ukraine, would know the outcome of a case that has yet to be decided? Given the connections between Zagoriy, Filatov, and Nizhnik, it’s not hard to guess where this knowledge comes from. It’s clear that Borshchahivskiy Pharmaceutical Plant is once again facing attempts at hostile corporate acquisition, but hopefully, they will be as unsuccessful as the previous ones.