War reaches bottled water in Ukraine: Legal battle, alleged cyberattack and Russian investors

A British theater producer from the wealthy Patarkatsishvili family is facing Ukrainian authorities in a bitter legal and business struggle over control of IDS Ukraine, one of the country’s leading bottled-water companies.

The company produces some of Ukraine’s most popular bottled waters. Thirty-four percent belongs to the Patarkatsishvili family, including Liana Patarkatsishvili, who works in theater and recently collaborated with actors Toby Jones and Mira Syal on a theatrical production. Another 49% is linked to Russian investors, including Mikhail Fridman, founder of Russia’s Alfa Group, who faces Western sanctions over his ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Ukrainian authorities placed restrictions on IDS Ukraine’s ownership structure in 2022, after Russia’s invasion. The Asset Recovery and Management Agency, known as ARMA, is responsible for selecting an independent management team to run the company.

ARMA chief Yaroslava Maksimenko says the process has repeatedly encountered legal and bureaucratic obstacles. She attributes some of those difficulties to shareholders’ resistance to handing over control of the assets. ARMA also says it became the target of a cyberattack during one attempt to select an independent manager. No evidence has so far shown who was responsible, and the Patarkatsishvili family has not been accused or treated as a suspect.

Maksimenko says New World Value Fund Limited, through which the family holds its stake, filed complaints alleging illegal conduct by ARMA officials. She described those complaints as “disinformation.” Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating the allegations. ARMA has also raised concerns about possible money laundering or extraction of value from IDS Ukraine if the current management remains in place, but no official finding has established that such crimes occurred. Separate proceedings are before Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court, where shareholders are seeking to block the nationalization of part or all of the company. Some Ukrainian government officials regard IDS Ukraine as strategically important.

“

disinformation