The founder of the Eskulab network of medical laboratories has warned of the risk of operations being halted because of an attempted raider takeover

The Eskulab group of companies, which manages the Eskulab network of medical laboratories (the private enterprise “Persha Sotsialna Medychna Laboratoriia (PSML) Eskulab” and the LLC “Eskulab Tsentr”), warns of the risk of the network’s operations being halted because of an attempted raider takeover.

As the network’s founder Serhii Diadiushko told the Interfax-Ukraine agency in an exclusive interview, the network’s work is currently effectively blocked because of the actions of two of its co-founders, Stanislav Luhovskyi and Denys Melnyk.

According to Diadiushko, the network’s commercial director Roman Vysotskyi, who represents Melnyk, blocked Eskulab’s financial transactions, as a result of which the network cannot buy reagents for conducting tests or pay salaries to almost 1,200 of its employees.

“Right now there is a shortage of reagents, they need to be purchased, and people are not being paid their salaries. Payments have been stopped, which does not allow the company to keep working. I have already invested about UAH 5 million of my own money, but today my resources are exhausted. The work of the entire network across Ukraine will stop,” he said.

Diadiushko clarified that the conflict between the co-founders arose in 2023, when Luhovskyi and Melnyk tried to re-register Diadiushko’s stake in their own names and remove him from the network’s management. At the same time, the co-founders reached an agreement on creating a directorate that included representatives of each of the co-founders.

“Thus, Vysotskyi blocked the financial transactions at the end of March,” Diadiushko said.

Diadiushko has now turned to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

Melnyk, for his part, denies these accusations.

The Eskulab medical laboratory is among the three largest private laboratories in Ukraine and is contracted by the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU). The network comprises five laboratory centers and 180 sample collection points in the western regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv.

In 2023, Eskulab paid UAH 33.8 million in taxes, including the unified social contribution (ESV) of UAH 14.97 million, the military levy of UAH 1.33 million, and personal income tax of UAH 14.034 million. The company is among the ten largest taxpayers in the Lviv region.

The co-founders of the private enterprise “PSML Eskulab” are Diadiushko, who owns 43% of the company, Luhovskyi (43%) and Melnyk (14%). The co-founders of the LLC “Eskulab Tsentr” are Diadiushko, Luhovskyi and Melnyk, each of whom owns 20% of the company, as well as Ruslana Soltani, who owns 40%.