KYIV - Ukraine will try, in a second attempt, to sell state-run United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), Europe's largest titanium and zirconium miner, on October 29, the state property fund said on Monday.
On Friday, the fund said it had been forced to cancel a previous auction scheduled for August 31 due to a lack of participants.
The fund said in June the starting price for 100% of UMCC had been set at 3.7-billion hryvnias ($136-million).
UMCC is among the top 10 global miners of titanium and zirconium ores and its share of the global market was 2.3% for ilmenite, 6.2% for rutile and 1.4% for zircon in 2020, according to Ukrainian officials.
The company provides raw materials which have a wide range of uses including in steelmaking, glassmaking and traditional ceramics, with titanium also used as a key alloying agent.
Ukraine aims to raise about 12-billion hryvnias by selling state assets in 2021 to partially finance the state budget deficit, which was approved at 5.5% of gross domestic product.