Volodymyr Zelensky is used to getting his way in the case of money. Look at the untold billions US taxpayers have given his country to defeat Russian aggression.
Money from the private sector has been much less easy. Witness the chilly reception he received from bankers this past week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It spoke volumes concerning the enormous challenge Zelensky faces not simply to beat back Vladimir Putin’s hordes, but in addition to repair the damage they unleashed on his economy.
The WEF, in fact, is an annual gabfest of Wall Street elites and globalist financiers who discuss weighty issues even in the event that they never appear to get anything done. This 12 months’s event at least promised to attain something concrete because Zelensky could be within the room with a few of the world’s strongest bankers and he really needs their money.
Wall Street has shown a keen interest in investing in Ukraine. The banker class (like the remaining of us) admires the country’s resiliency. The financial community also appreciates the geopolitical urgency in stopping Vladimir Putin from re-establishing the old Soviet Union on the backs of the Ukrainian people.
They usually liked Zelensky’s pitch in Davos: Despite the continued hostilities, inflation in his country is all the way down to below 6% from as high as 30%; the economy is growing. He plans to open the vital Kyiv airport in the approaching months. The western a part of the country is pretty secure from bombing, he explained.
Led by JP Morgan and Jamie Dimon’s team of Mary Erdoes and Vince La Padula, an investment fund is prepared and waiting to be formed. As this column has identified, JP Morgan has held a series of personal meetings with potential investors since the country is in some ways an incredible investment opportunity. Ukrainians are each educated and productive when bombs aren’t aimed at their homes and businesses.
And the banker bigwigs like Dimon of JP Morgan, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, the Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein, Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman, plus a rep from Larry Fink’s BlackRock asset-management empire acted like they were able to make a deal first before the cameras after which in front of Zelensky himself during a non-public meeting where they discussed find out how to repair infrastructure, construct a tech economy, and manufacturing.
Yet Zelensky got here away empty-handed, I’m told. Not a single hard commitment was made last week by people running the world’s biggest investment houses.
There was a little bit excellent news for Zelensky out of Davos: Robert Kraft, yes, that Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the Recent England Patriots, has been a part of the JP Morgan-led discussions on rebuilding Ukraine for the past 12 months or so, and he’s now seriously considering constructing factories in Ukraine.
Before Robert became synonymous with a team that usually (until recently) won Super Bowls, he was big within the paper manufacturing business. Sources tell The Post he and his son and business partner, Jonathan (they run the eponymous Kraft Group holding company), are eyeing sites within the far-less war-torn western a part of Ukraine and will determine to proceed with constructing a factory or two later this 12 months.
A Kraft Group spokesman says the corporate “has had a few preliminary discussions concerning the potential for doing something in the long run but nothing is imminent.”
The looming Kraft investment is estimated at around $100 million. That’s good, but small in comparison with the private investment needed to create jobs and economic growth, and the quantity that Wall Street could raise under the suitable conditions.
And the cash is waiting, which is an excellent sign. My banker sources say Zelensky has convinced the investment big shots that he’s rooting out corruption, a giant obstacle for any significant capital raise. In addition they like what they’re hearing about his economy bouncing back.
It’s the war that’s stopping Wall Street from fully opening its wallet. The issue, simply put: Investors know there isn’t a return on capital for bombed-out tech startups.
Through the closed-door talks, first reported by me at Fox Business, Zelensky might need made his predicament even worse. He didn’t indicate that he’s able to hold peace talks with Putin, the person he recently called “Hitler.”
Which means private money in any significant sum isn’t happening anytime soon. I’m sure Dimon told Zelensky just that. The JPM honcho also will need to have told Zelensky that Ukraine would have access to billions of dollars from private equity, institutional investors and wealthy Americans the second the bullets stopped flying, but not a second before.
Manchin on the march
Last week at the house of PR impresario Robert Dilenschneider, powerful West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the long-time political moderate, explained to a gaggle of potential donors why he can’t stand Donald Trump’s divisiveness and Joe Biden’s feebleness, and why one other candidate is required to run for the White House because the long run of the country is at stake.
Manchin didn’t explicitly say he was running for president as an independent on the so-called “No Labels” ticket, the nonpartisan organization he has been with the past few years.
But there really isn’t another reason to be in Darien, Conn., on a chilly winter night unless you’re running, so stay tuned.