Ukraine anti-trust body sends back UAE firm's bid for drone maker

KYIV, April 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine's anti-monopoly committee has sent back an application for a $760 million purchase of a stake in Ukraine's top drone and missile maker Fire Point by a UAE-based defence conglomerate, the agency told Reuters on Wednesday.

In a written response to questions, the committee said it had received the application on December 30 but had not accepted it for review because it did not meet the required criteria.

The committee confirmed that UAE-based EDGE Group was the counterparty in the deal, as previously reported by Ukrainian media outlets, citing unnamed sources.

Fire Point did not respond to a request for comment. The Ukrainian company has not identified the entity purchasing the stake. EDGE Group did not respond to a request for comment about the deal.

Fire Point's co-founder Denys Shtilierman told Reuters in an interview last week that the acquisition of a 30% stake - which would value the company at $2.5 billion - was under review by Ukraine's anti-trust committee, which had until around October to decide.

Founded after Russia's 2022 invasion, Fire Point is seen as the breakout star of Ukraine's defence industry, making the majority of the long-range drones Ukraine uses to attack Russia as well as the Flamingo cruise missile.

The committee, in its written response to Reuters, did not specify which rules the application had fallen foul of, nor when it was returned to Fire Point. It said it had not received another application from Fire Point at the time of writing.

A spokesperson declined to comment further.