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The article is aimed at researching the current state and peculiarities of the Ukrainian M&A market. The market of mergers and acquisitions in Ukraine began to form in the 90s of 20th century, that is, the market is relatively young, but already has its own history, which consists of a consistent four stages: privatization; post-privatization; corporate and speculative. The domestic M&A market is characterized by the formation of a tendency to increase the value of agreements. During the research period (2013–2020), the most expensive M&A agreements in Ukraine were most often concluded in such sectors of the economy as communication and media, financial sector, agriculture. The level of transparency remains low, that is, in Ukraine more than 40% of agreements were concluded without disclosing the cost. Ukrainian investors practically do not participate in the purchase of foreign assets within the framework of mergers and acquisitions agreements. Until 2013, the main investor in the Ukrainian M&A market was Europe, now it is the CIS countries, and the participation of American companies is also growing. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on all countries of the world. Ukraine’s GDP decreased by 4.4%, which was the largest drop since 2013–2014. Also in Ukraine significantly decreased the number of agreements on the M&A market (decreased by 15%, and the total value of agreements decreased by 62%). A negative characteristic feature of the domestic M&A market is the presence of raider seizures, which hinders the development of this market. Using the data of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, we determined that from 500 to 700 raider attacks are recorded annually in Ukraine. Thus, during the research period (2013–2020), 3,242 raider seizures were recorded in Ukraine. In this regard, the government of the country has developed measures to overcome this phenomenon. Thus, in 2020, the Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Countering Raiding» came into force, which will contribute to the improvement of the investment attractiveness of the country, will ensure the growth of the domestic market of mergers and acquisitions.

The nuclear-physical properties of radionuclides of natural .sup.232Th and .sup.238U series differ significantly; therefore, the problem of selecting particular [gamma]-lines for calculations arises in direct [gamma]-spectrometry measurements in assessing the absolute activities of the parent radionuclides of these series. In the present study, we develop an approach yielding a reliable value of the specific activity of .sup.232Th and .sup.238U by a single measurement of a sample with the smallest deviation from the true value. We used a bottom sediment sample, taken during the 66th cruise of the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh research vessel in the Kara Sea (station coordinates: 72°30.4' N, 80°20.4' E; depth 14 m), as a model sample. When processing the results, only those lines were selected from the entire set of lines belonging to the .sup.232Th natural series, the quantum yield of which exceeded 2% (taking into account branching). When analyzing the natural .sup.238U series, we selected lines that were free from interference with nuclides of the .sup.232Th series and with the quantum yield above 3%., Author(s): Yu. A. Sapozhnikov [sup.1], A. M. Afinogenov [sup.1], A. V. Travkina [sup.2], L. D. Sapozhnikova [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia (2) [...]

The article is aimed at researching the level of debt stability of the countries that emit reserve currencies. The historical aspects of formation and development of the global structure of reserve currencies are considered in accordance with the functioning of existing currency systems. The current tendencies inherent in the institute of reserve currencies are analyzed. The State debt of the reserve currency emitters between 2000 and 2018 was explored, and the features of their debts were described. In view of the dominant positions of the US Dollar among reserve currencies, a retrospective analysis of the State debt of this country - emitter of reserve currency - is carried out. Also an analysis of securing the public debt by the United States, Great Britain, Japan, China, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and the Euro-zone is carried out. The results of the analysis suggest that the Swiss Franc and the Chinese Yuan are the most secured in terms of GDP together with gold and foreign currency exchange reserves among reserve currencies. Both Japan and the United States have a weak position as to debt stability. The hypothesis that most reserve currency emitting countries provide a high level of well-being of their population through a chronic balance-of-payments deficits, which leads to a constant increase in the State debt, is confirmed by the analysis results. Accordingly, a high standard of living in such countries is possible by using the resources acquired in debt. It is defined that this way of existence of reserve currency emitting countries is possible thanks to the virtual economy model. In addition, it is confirmed that the current reserve assets system does not provide an adequate level of stability on a global scale. The risks to the world economy are related to the vulnerability of the reserve currency emitters, specifically, in terms of the debt stability in these countries.