Dragon Capital Acquires Office Building for Kyiv School of Economics

Dragon Capital, as part of its corporate social responsibility program focused on development of education in Ukraine, has acquired a 4,441 sq. m. office building in Kyiv, located at 3 Mykola Shpak Street, for Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

“We have been supporting KSE for many years and appreciate its rapid development. This year, we decided to substantially increase our support and acquire a separate building for the School. We are investing a significant amount, more than $5million, in the purchase and reconstruction, and we expect a significant positive effect for Ukraine as a result. We are confident that Kyiv School of Economics provides the best economic education in Ukraine that is on a par with leading global universities. And this is at a time when our country critically needs the right economic change that is impossible to achieve without professional economists. We hope that the new building will help KSE raise the bar even higher, increase the number of its students and become an important educational and economic analytical center in Ukraine,” said Tomas Fiala, CEO of Dragon Capital.

The reconstruction plan calls for creating a unique infrastructure including modern lecture halls, a lounge for students, areas for group work, as well as a conference hall. KSE plans to simultaneously train more than 600 students in the new building, as well as bring together civil society leaders and philanthropists at its social and economic events.

After the reconstruction and adaptation of the premises, Dragon Capital will transfer the six-story building to KSE for long-term use. There will be a bachelor’s degree section, a department of economic and political research, and eight Master’s programs including MBA courses. The building will also house the Center for Economic Strategy and VOX Ukraine.

“Kyiv School of Economics highly appreciates Dragon Capital’s support and the generous contribution to the development of the country’s intellectual potential. The School has not had a home for 25 years, and now, thanks to Dragon Capital, we will be able to give our students a sense of true alma mater and create a platform for the development of economic thought in the country. This is the first example of such a charitable act in Ukraine when following the example of leading Western universities, the building of a higher educational institution will be named after its investor”, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of Kyiv School of Economics.

It is expected that Kyiv School of Economics will welcome its first students in the new building in September and completely relocate there in early 2021.

About Dragon Capital

Dragon Capital is one of the largest groups of companies in Ukraine, which works in the field of investment and financial services and provides a full range of investment banking and brokerage services, direct investment, asset management of institutional, corporate and private clients. The company was founded in 2000 in Kyiv. In 2007-2017, the minority stake in Dragon Capital was owned by Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest banks.

One of Dragon Capital’s key activities is investing in the real estate market. The company has more than 19 years of experience in construction and management of large-scale residential, office, shopping and logistics complexes throughout Ukraine. In particular, today the Dragon Capital group of companies manages 29 commercial real estate objects with a total area of more than 680 000 sq. m, which makes the company one of the largest players in the real estate market in Ukraine.

From 2016 to 2020, Dragon Capital together with its foreign partners invested more than $600 million in real estate, of which more than $500 million in Kyiv and Kyiv region.

About Kyiv School of Economics

Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) is an educational institution founded in 1996 by the Economics Education and Research Consortium (EERC). The School is governed by the Board of Directors and International Academic Board, which includes Nobel Laureate Roger Myerson.

The School attracts leading specialists from Western and Ukrainian universities with significant research experience. The curriculum is modeled on the economic and financial programs of North America and Western Europe. Tymofiy Mylovanov serves as honorary president of KSE.