The FINANCIAL — Salford Capital Partners, owner of Salford Georgia officialy refused its relationship with Georgian Oligarch Patarkatsishvili, who is wanted by Georgian intelligence services.
On December 3, Salford distributed company statement via NYSE-listed company Business Wire. "Mr. Partarkatsishvili does not, (and never has) hold a direct or indirect beneficial financial interest in Salford nor does he participate in the management of Salford", written in the statement.
"In the events of the past 3 weeks companies controlled by Salford Capital Partners Inc. and its representative office, Salford Georgia, and its employees have been subjected to an ongoing systematic economic and personal harassment by various branches of the Georgian Government", Salford says in official statement.
Representatives for Salford believe that this is due to "the perception by the Georgian Government that Salford and its controlled companies are fully owned and controlled by Mr. Partarkatsishvili and have been used to actively support his political aspirations".
In order to clarify this we wish to provide a clear explanation of Salford and its operations in Georgia and its relationship with Mr. Partarkatsishvili, Salford says.
"Salford is an international private equity firm that focuses on investments in CEE and CIS. Salford has offices in Moscow, Tbilisi, Kiev Belgrade and London and employees approximately 35 professionals globally.
Salford is 100% employee owned and a large majority of Salford’s executive management team are US or European nationals with educational and professional credentials from blue chip universities and companies including; Harvard, Cambridge, Dartmouth, Berkeley, IMD, Merrill Lynch, UBS Warburg, McKinsey & Co, Fidelity and Templeton etc.
Mr. Partarkatsishvili does not, (and never has) hold a direct or indirect beneficial financial interest in Salford nor does he participate in the management of Salford.
Salford’s advisory board members include Lord Bell (Chairman of Chime Communications Plc, Dr. Klaus Mangold (Former Vice Chairman Daimler Chrysler and Former Chairman Daimler Chrysler Financial Services) and Philip von Stauffenberg (CEO Solidus and former senior executive with Hicks Muse Furst & Tate and Warburg Pincus, two of the worlds leading private equity firms).
With US$750 million in fully invested equity capital under management, Salford is one of the largest private equity firms in the CIS/CEE region. Salford has invested in and controls several market leading companies; some of which have been subject to business school case studies by Harvard Business School and IMD. Additionally Salford has been responsible for arranging over US$250 million in debt financing from leading European financial institutions.
Salford Georgia is the Georgian representative office of Salford Capital Partners Inc. and its managing director is Mr. Irakli Rukhadze. Mr. Rukhadze is a US citizen with a very distinguished professional and educational background, which includes five years with McKinsey & Co and an MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
In Georgian companies fully controlled and managed by Salford (eg. Standard Bank and Georgian Glass and Mineral Water Company), Mr. Partarkatsishvili has no voting rights or participation in management.
Of the total equity in Georgia managed by Salford and Salford Georgia, approximately 60% is allocated to international private and institutional investors, company managers and Salford executives".
On November 24, 2007, National bank of Georgia (NBG) Supervisory Commission made the decision to appoint temporary administration at Standard Bank.
According to the statement disseminated by NBG, the reason for the appointment of temporary administration in Standard Bank is connected to the official liquidation of the bank. The bank was conditioned to face the problem as a result of the intensified deposits loss since the beginning of the current month. That’s the reason why Standard Bank has been under the supervision of NBG over the last few days.
As Kadagidze declared at a briefing on November 27, the flight of capital from Standard Bank totalled GEL 40 million over the last fortnight. “The owners and investors of the bank will have the opportunity to attract funds for the restoration of liquidity of the bank over the next two months,” head of the Financial Monitoring Service declared.
Salford Georgia considers that the actions carried out by NBG are illegal, violating both national and international legal norms. The company states that the current developments have a political background.
Earlier in 2005, Jamal Khan, Senior Group Counsel, Salfordmade public announcement on FORBES website, sayng that: "Salford is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. It is a private equity firm specializing in the food-and-beverage industries in central and eastern Europe.
"Salford advises on projects and manages investments for a number of investors and international companies, including Boris Berezovsky and Badri Patarkatsishvili. Mr. Patarkatsishvili is not a shareholder and has no financial, managerial or voting control in Georgian Glass & Mineral Water or in Borjomi Water. Neither Mr. Patarkatsishvili nor Mr. Berezovsky is a shareholder in Salford, nor do they have any financial, managerial or voting control in Salford, which is owned by its management. Further, neither Georgian Glass & Mineral Water, Borjomi Water nor Salford has ever received any form of compensation, whether direct or indirect, from BP or any other party as a result of the routing of an oil pipeline".
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