Ukraine Seeks Control of Water Company Owned by British Billionaires and Russian Investors

A dispute over one of Ukraine’s biggest bottled-water companies has pitted Kyiv’s asset-recovery agency against a British billionaire family and Russian investors. The authorities are trying to take control of IDS Ukraine, while minority shareholders challenge attempts to nationalize part or all of the company in court.

The dispute centers on the 34% stake held by the Patarkatsishvili family. IDS Ukraine’s shares were frozen by Ukrainian authorities in 2022 after they found that Russian investors held 49% of the company. Those investors included Mikhail Fridman, the founder of Russia’s Alfa Group, who faces Western sanctions for supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Ukraine’s Asset Recovery and Management Agency, known as ARMA, was instructed to appoint an independent administrator to run the company. ARMA chief Yaroslava Maksymenko said the agency had encountered legal and bureaucratic obstacles. ARMA also said it had been targeted in a cyberattack, although there was no evidence identifying those responsible.

Maksymenko accused New World Value Fund Limited, the vehicle through which the Patarkatsishvili family holds its stake, of making unfounded allegations against ARMA officials. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating those allegations. Authorities fear possible money laundering or the extraction of value from the company, but no official findings of such crimes have been made.

A spokesperson for the Patarkatsishvili family said the family had strongly supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022. The family said, “The Patarkatsishvili family firmly believes that an asset should not be confiscated from shareholders who are not sanctioned and against whom there are no allegations or suspicions.” It said it would seek justice in international courts if Ukrainian proceedings did not protect its interests and ARMA ultimately took over the asset. The family inherited its IDS Ukraine stake in 2008 after the death of businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili.

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The Patarkatsishvili family firmly believes that an asset should not be confiscated from shareholders who are not sanctioned and against whom there are no allegations or suspicions.