Ukraine seeks to seize water company co-owned by billionaire family of British theatre producer
Ukrainian authorities are trying to take control of IDS Ukraine, the country's largest bottled water producer, part-owned by the UK-based Patarkatsishvili family and sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. The family denies wrongdoing and says it will pursue international courts if necessary.
Ukrainian state authorities are locked in a dispute with the family of British theatre producer Liana Patarkatsishvili over control of IDS Ukraine, the maker of the country's biggest bottled water brands. The Patarkatsishvili family holds a 34% stake in the company, while 49% belongs to Russian investors including Alfa Group founder Mikhail Fridman, who is under Western sanctions for backing Vladimir Putin's regime.
Frozen assets and takeover attempts
IDS Ukraine's corporate holdings were frozen in 2022 because of the Russian investors' stake. Ukraine's asset recovery and management agency, Arma, has been trying to install independent management at the company, whose minority shareholders also include the Georgian government. Arma's head, Yaroslava Maksymenko, said the process has faced legal and bureaucratic obstacles as shareholders resist relinquishing control. The agency also says it suffered a cyber-attack during one attempt to appoint an independent manager, though there is no evidence of who was responsible, and the Patarkatsishvili family is not a suspect.
Competing accusations
Maksymenko claimed that New World Value Fund Limited, the vehicle used for the family's investment in IDS Ukraine, had made unfounded claims of misconduct by Arma officials, which she called misinformation. Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau is still investigating those claims. Arma says it has concerns about possible money laundering and asset stripping at IDS Ukraine, though there have been no official findings to that effect. Separately, the shareholders are contesting attempts at Ukraine's anti-corruption high court to nationalise part or all of the company, which some officials view as a strategically important asset during the war.
A spokesperson for the Patarkatsishvili family said it had consistently supported Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022 and was being unfairly targeted, adding it would seek justice in international courts if it could not obtain a fair outcome through Ukrainian courts. IDS Ukraine's spokesperson also denied any wrongdoing, saying the company had continued supplying water throughout the war despite missile and drone attacks.
Liana, her sister Iya and their mother Inna inherited the family's stake in 2008 following the death of Badri Patarkatsishvili, a businessman who built his fortune during the Soviet Union's collapse. Liana has more recently become known for producing immersive theatre, including a production featuring actors Toby Jones and Meera Syal.
