The owner of IDS Borjomi Beverages has put it up for sale, and some Russian investors have already shown interest, Kommersant reported, citing one of the interested buyers.
Standard Capital, Ashmore Investment, Russian Direct Investment Fund, TPG Capital, Klever Asset Management and AFK Sistema were named among those looking to buy IDS Borjomi from Salford Capital Partners. The price of the company is estimated at $400 million to $500 million.
Russian authorities banned the Georgian-produced mineral water — along with Georgian wine — from the country in 2006, citing poor quality of the product. Until then, Russia was the brand's biggest market. The company's share in the market was over 10 percent, according to AC Nielsen.
(MT)
Correction: In a version of this business brief published on page 6 in the Monday, Sept. 3 edition of the paper, Salford Capital was incorrectly identified as a firm controlled by Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky? was one of the initial founders of Salford Capital, but is currently not a shareholder in Salford and does not have any financial, managerial or voting control in the company.
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