Former ice cream market leader in Ukraine declared bankrupt - court ruling
The Commercial Court of Donetsk Region declared PrJSC “Hercules” bankrupt, a former major manufacturer of ice cream, dairy products and frozen semi-finished products. The ruling was made on July 28, 2026, after which the company entered the liquidation procedure.
The bankruptcy case was opened back in November 2019 at the request of the private enterprise “Marinata”. Over almost seven years, the court did not receive a recovery plan or other proposals for restoring the company's solvency. The debt to creditors was also not repaid.
As of September 2025, the total amount of claims entered in Hercules’ creditors’ register exceeded UAH 1.2 billion. Among the largest creditors are Lavios LLC, Raiffeisen Bank and Galamet LLC. In May 2026, the Supreme Court also confirmed the claims of the liquidated bank Petrocommerz-Ukraine in the amount of almost UAH 193.9 million.
Arbitral manager Yulia Karaush was appointed liquidator of the enterprise. She must find the company's property and property rights, form the liquidation estate and use the received funds to settle creditors' claims in the order established by law.
Currently, it is impossible to fully inventory and appraise the production assets: a significant part of the property remains in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk Region. During liquidation, the existence of other assets of the Ukrainian legal entity will be checked, including accounts receivable, corporate and property rights.
PrJSC “Hercules” was registered in 1997. Before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the company was one of the leaders of the Ukrainian ice cream and frozen food market. It produced ice cream and semi-finished products under the “Hercules” brand, dairy products “Dobrynia” and fermented milk products “Dykanka”.
