•Ukrainian agricultural behemoth Kernel is offering a $500 million eurobond issue that will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, Interfax Ukraine reported. The annual yield on the bonds is 8.875 percent. "This is a symbolic placement both for Kernel and Ukraine in general,” the company said. “It again opens access to Ukrainian issuers to the international capital market after a three-year pause.”

<•Online reports that Russia's AvtoVAZ had stopped importing its automobiles into Ukraine last year are untrue, the company's official importer in Ukraine said Tuesday. Based on a claim made on a Ukrainian automotive blog, a number of media outlets reported that only two models of AvtoVAZ's Lada line were being offered at Ukrainian dealerships. Lada sales in Ukraine were up 43 percent last year from 2015.

•Ukraine came in No. 131 out of 176 countries in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index. It scored 29 points, which was a slight improvement, but that total puts it in the company of Iran, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Russia. The report said widespread impunity and an inefficient justice system prevent Ukraine from achieving a breakthrough.

•The International Monetary Fund again deferred consideration of Ukraine's latest tranche of assistance, so the topic won't come up on the agenda until Feb. 3, Ukrinform reported. Meanwhile, Unian reported that dialogue between Ukraine and the IMF is underway regarding the agency's demand that Ukraine raise its retirement age, which the Cabinet opposes.

•Mriya, a Ukrainian ag firm, rejected all offers to buy the company that were received in December, Interfax Ukraine and others reported. One potential buyer was Kernel. Mriya will allow bidders to do more due diligence and decide whether to revise their bids, but the company intends to stick to its strategic plan and complete its restructuring in the upcoming months.

•The State Property Fund plans to sell varying portions of five assets by the end of the year, Interfax reported. The assets and corresponding stakes are: the Odessa portside plant (nearly all of it); Turboatom (75 percent); the Zaporizhia Aluminum Combine (68 percent); Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine (51 percent); and Azovmash (50 percent).

•Organizers of the seventh session of the Annual Investment Meeting to be held in Dubai in April expect Ukraine to be a prominent participant, according to Unian. The head of the organizing committee said many Ukrainian companies have confirmed their attendance, and the event will also have a country presentation for Ukraine as a whole.

•In the second half of last year, Ukrzaliznytsia increased cargo transportation by 12 percent and passenger transportation by nearly 3 percent, company CEO Wojciech Balczun said, as reported by Ukrinform. He also said that the railway will switch to international accounting standards this year.

•Arms exports remain a lucrative source of income for Ukraine, and the sale of a final batch of Olot tanks to Thailand this year will be worth nearly $250 million, Unian reported. Ukraine is among the top 10 arms-exporting countries in the world.

•The Agricultural Ministry, in consultation with the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, is planning to implement a pilot project on voluntary consolidation of small landowners' agricultural lands in the Kyiv and Kherson regions, according to Ukrinform.

•The total volume of trade in securities on Ukrainian stock exchanges in 2016 fell 17 percent, to $8.7 billion, according to a report by the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market that was carried by Unian.

For comments and news tips, please email UBJ AM editor David Edwards at david.edwards@theubj.com.