Expert outlines five risks of investing in Ihor Mazepa's ENCRAFT energy project
Investing in ENCRAFT, an energy project run by the Concorde group, may carry significant risks for private investors. These risks stem from the terms for withdrawing funds, from the project's co-investors, and from personal problems facing Concorde owner Ihor Mazepa
This is the assessment of Serhii Liamets, former editor of Ekonomichna Pravda, in his analysis of ENCRAFT's investment offering.
ENCRAFT develops distributed power generation in Ukraine. Its first phase consists of eight gas-piston units with a combined capacity of 18.4 MW, built with around €15 million in investment. By the end of 2026, the company plans to build 60 MW / 240 MWh of energy storage systems, and it recently invited private investors to co-finance the project. According to Mazepa, more than 50 investors have already put money into Concorde's energy projects, with investments ranging from $100,000 to €20 million.
"Isn't Mazepa offering his clients to take on excessive risks? If so, the promise of high returns… should be a warning sign," Liamets writes.
Liquidity and currency. By the author's estimate, investors' money may stay locked in funds managed by the asset management company Concord Invest for about ten years, and an early exit could mean losing part of the capital. ENCRAFT also earns its revenue in hryvnia but promises returns in foreign currency. Devaluation and currency restrictions could therefore significantly reduce those returns.
State payments. In Liamets's view, ENCRAFT's business model depends on long-term euro-pegged contracts won at auctions held by Ukrenergo under Volodymyr Kudrytskyi's leadership. The author compares this mechanism to the "green tariff." He argues it places a burden on Energoatom and on business consumers. After the war, the state may revise the terms or scrap the currency peg, and the mechanism itself could become the subject of investigations. "In that scenario, they can forget about 16% annual returns in foreign currency," the author notes.
Mazepa's personal risks. Liamets writes that the businessman is "quite capable of delaying repayment or not repaying the money at all." According to the journalist's sources, Mazepa provided a personal guarantee for the obligations of the Canadian company Concorde Solutions LP to SIFUM, a BVI-registered company. The author links SIFUM to Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman. Mazepa later refused to pay. According to Liamets, the creditor intends to bring the case before an English court. That court could freeze Mazepa's real estate and businesses for the duration of the proceedings, which, the author stresses, would not amount to a finding of guilt.
Liamets also recalls other episodes from Mazepa's business history. In 2016, Concorde Bermuda Ltd reached a settlement with the SEC and paid $4.2 million in a case involving trading on stolen press releases, without admitting or denying the allegations. In 2015, Concorde Capital became a co-investor in the forex platform PrivateFX, which later failed to pay out its clients. Mazepa said he held up to 10% of the platform and did not control the company. In 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine revoked the registration of the TYME payment system, which Mazepa co-owned. The NBU acted on information from the SBU about TYME's cooperation with a Russian payment system.
The author considers the most serious episode to be Mazepa's detention in January 2024. The State Bureau of Investigation detained him in a case concerning the seizure of seven hectares of land on the protective dam of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant. A so-called "Mazepa law" was later passed. However, Liamets points out that the amnesty does not extend to land belonging to critical infrastructure, so a resumption of the investigation would create an investment risk.
Advisers and co-investors. The author names former Naftogaz CEO Andrii Kobolyev, who is a defendant in the case over bonuses paid for the Stockholm arbitration, as an adviser to ENCRAFT. According to Liamets, Mazepa appears to have financed the project's first phase with money from Favbet owner Andrii Matiukha. The author also cites Telegram posts linking Mazepa to Roosh founder Serhii Tokarev and to the gambling projects Cosmolot and Vulkan. He describes Ukraine's gambling industry as a "powder keg."
Liamets's main conclusion is that investors should evaluate the specific legal and financial structure rather than the owner's reputation. That means looking at the investment terms, the fund's structure and the actual ability to get money back. Otherwise, he warns, flashy advertising may turn out to conceal yet another "Elita-Tsentr."
