The capital’s two largest and most expensive concert venues — the International Centre for Culture and Arts (October Palace) and the Stereo Plaza concert hall — have come under the control of the Odesa-based company Kombinat Plus LLC. According to the Unified State Register, this company’s main activities are bread baking and the wholesale trade in sugar. The ultimate beneficiary of the company is Dmytro Sydorenko, a well-known promoter, founder of the Atlas Weekend festival and owner of a number of entertainment venues in Kyiv. The transfer of national cultural assets to a private entity was accompanied by dubious tenders, forceful seizures and high-profile investigations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The transfer of the October Palace, with an area of 17,500 square metres, took place in July 2025 via the National Agency for the Identification, Tracing and Management of Assets (ARMA), which was headed at the time by Olena Duma. The paperwork was finalised on 10 July, and just a few weeks later, the agency’s head submitted her resignation.
In August 2026, the Kyiv Commercial Court upheld a claim by the capital’s supervisory authority and ruled that the architectural monument, valued at around 1 billion hryvnias, should be returned to state ownership. The court ruled that the privatisation of the property by the Federation of Trade Unions in 2000 was unlawful. Despite this ruling, operational control over the property complex continues to be held de facto by representatives of ‘Kombinat Plus’.
Chronology of events surrounding the properties:
• 9–10 July 2025: ARMA signs an agreement regarding the October Palace.
• 31 October 2025: A five-year lease for Stereo Plaza is formalised via Prozorro.
• 25 December 2025: Armed clashes and violent conflict near Stereo Plaza.
• 8 August 2026: Court ruling ordering the return of the October Palace to the state.
The Stereo Plaza concert venue underwent the Prozorro electronic tender procedure in the autumn of 2025. The procedure included specific eligibility requirements, notably the mandatory experience of organising five concerts in venues not designated for performances, whilst no valuation of the property was carried out prior to the tender. An Odesa-based company emerged as the sole bidder for the three lots, signing a five-year contract with a commitment to pay 44 million hryvnias into the state budget.
The change of manager was accompanied by violent escalations:
November 2025: A group of 30 people entered the building and blocked access to the current tenants.
December 2025: Mass clashes broke out near the site involving over 50 people wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons, forcing the police to deploy investigative and operational units.
In addition to the street confrontations, the dispute moved into the legal arena. The previous tenants (‘Stereo Bar’ and ‘Stereo Events’) filed claims regarding the unlawful retention of movable property and sound equipment worth over 15 million hryvnias. The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal has already dismissed ARMA’s appeal and ordered the property to be returned to its rightful owners.
The handover of the capital’s venues coincided with large-scale investigations into ARMA’s activities by NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). According to journalistic investigations, in parallel with the deals concerning ‘Kombinat Plus’, a number of other state assets worth billions of hryvnias came under the control of consortia linked to former government advisers.
Law enforcement agencies have already served notices of suspicion on former officials who oversaw sanctions policy, whilst anti-corruption activists have sent official appeals to NABU, the SAPO and the Office of the Prosecutor General demanding an investigation into the business group’s entire portfolio of assets.