Valuing Losses from War Damage

IRE provides comprehensive support for owners of assets located in Ukraine seeking financial compensation for war damage.

Our system consists of three stages: (1) comprehensive documentation of the damage, destruction, or expropriation of assets as a result of the Russian invasion; (2) engineering cost assessment of required expenses to restore affected assets to pre-war utility; (3) market valuation of assets before the start of the war and as of the date of asset damage, destruction, or expropriation according to International Valuation Standards IVS 2022. Assets include land, buildings, infrastructure, machinery, equipment, transportation assets, and inventories of raw materials, work in-process, and final products.

We prefer to work with assets that are privately owned by either a legal person or a legal entity. For assets owned by legal entities, particularly assets that generate income, we conduct a comprehensive valuation of the loss of income and its effect on the business value of the legal entity.

Our international team of engineers, appraisers, and lawyers have decades of experience working in Ukraine within all sectors of the economy and are fully knowledgeable of Ukrainian laws, regulations, and business practices. Further information can be found in https://ire.kiev.ua/partners/

A brief description of each stage in the process is set out below to aide our clients in initial preparation for the financial compensation process.

Documentation of Pre-War Condition

Documentation of all sources of information relied upon to establish the existence of affected assets is a crucial first step in preparing a verifiable and valid claim for financial compensation. The characteristics, condition, and value of assets must be established prior to the date of damage, destruction, or expropriation. Some of the information that must be collected, verified, documented, and synthesized, includes, but is not limited to:

Technical documentation for the land plot
Schematic of asset locations: buildings, infrastructure
Technical passports for buildings (and other structures)
Photographs of the territory, buildings, structures
Extract from DRRP (buildings)
Extract from DRRP (land plot)
Financial reports (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement)
The Acts of putting capital assets into operation
Inventory records (raw materials, in process, final goods)
Capital asset depreciation records

Documentation of Damage and Destruction

Documenting the extent of damage or destruction of assets must meet evidentiary standards required for financial claims in an adjudication process. This requires at least the following:

Creating time-stamped, geolocated, photo and video documentation of the extent of damage or destruction
Calculating the engineering cost to retore assets to their pre-war condition and utility
For income generating assets or entire business entities, determine the amount of lost income owing to the damage, destruction or expropriation of assets or equity.
Revaluation of business value reflecting the current state of damage, destruction, or expropriation, as well as current market conditions at the date of appraisal, all relative to the pre-war valuations

Compile relevant documents from Ukrainian Government authorities such as:

Opening of criminal proceedings by police
Acts from DSNC – THE STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE
Acts from local authorities
Act from fire protection agencies
Recording of damage to real estate on the Diya portal
Application with the Office of the Prosecutor General
Application with the State website, created with the support of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and other organizations for documenting war crimes
The Act of demining, where needed
National judicial procedure (Ukraine)
Prepare and submit a complaint to the National Court. Obtain the national court decision regarding the recognition of damage and losses caused to the enterprise as a result of destruction and damage to property in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation

International judicial procedure (European or USA jurisdiction)

Prepare required financial valuation reports as required by an International Court in support of legal efforts to obtain full financial compensation for damage and losses as a result of damage, destruction or expropriation of capital assets or business equity as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation