Kyiv shopping center once belonging to sanctioned oligarch on sale for $207 million

A popular Kyiv shopping and business center was officially put up for sale with a starting price of $207 million on Aug. 31, a year after it was wrestled away from a sanctioned oligarch, sparking a battle for ownership.

The fate of the Gulliver center, a towering skyscraper in downtown Kyiv, has been a hot topic in the capital ever since it was taken over by state-owned banks Oschadbank and Ukreximbank in July 2025.

If successful, the sale would be the biggest wartime privatization in Ukraine, surpassing the current record holder, UMCC Titanium, a titanium mine purchased by Azeri firm Neqsol in 2025 for Hr 3.94 billion ($96 million).

But many in Kyiv’s business community think that the starting price is too high for the market, particularly as Russia has escalated attacks on Ukrainian businesses, including shopping centers, in recent months.

"Gulliver could also be one of the potential targets. I don't think that businesses will take such a risk during these months," Serhii Fursa, deputy managing director at investment firm Dragon Capital, told the Kyiv Independent.

A court handed Gulliver to the banks last year after a legal battle with the former owner, Three O, a company run by Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Polischuk, which owed a staggering $537.2 million to Oschadbank and $137.8 million to Ukreximbank.

Three O stopped paying its loan obligations for nearly a year, and Gulliver was put up as collateral.

"You would never sell Gulliver for $600 million. It's impossible. This will be a loss for the state," Fursa said.

But even $207 million is a lot of cash for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and businesses to spend on a shopping center. Fursa expects the auction won’t be successful and thinks it's likely the banks will try again with a lower price in a second auction.

Oschadbank wrote in a public statement that Gulliver’s pool of tenants — around 250 shops — and potential for "further development" make it an attractive asset for both Ukrainian and international investors, "even taking into account war risks."

The bank stressed the auction will be competitive and transparent, held via the online ProZorro platform.

Some in Kyiv speculate that Gulliver will be bought by Maksym Krippa, a businessman who has spent the war buying up expensive buildings in Kyiv, including the iconic Hotel Ukraina for Hr 2.5 billion ($60 million) in 2024. But Krippa’s charitable foundation previously said he had no interest in the building.

Whenever the sale is secured, it will mark an end to a long-term dispute between Oschadbank and Three O that last year resulted in Gulliver being shut down for several months during the winter, as the bank accused the former owners of sabotaging the handover process and damaging the building.

Three O denied the allegations.