Ukrainian oligarch will lose control of Inkerman
The Inkerman vintage wine factory will change its owner. This was reported by the Sevastopol publication “Forpost” with reference to its sources.
The new investor is a company associated with Bank Rossiya, owned by Kremlin-connected billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk. It could be Yuzhny Proekt (St. Petersburg), which previously acquired the Novy Svet champagne factory . (Soon after, the "road of life" to the village, which had fallen into disrepair during the Ukrainian era, was overhauled.)
Earlier, the general director of the plant, Sergei Lebedev, said: Inkerman shareholders understand that “working in Russia and not having a Russian investor is not entirely correct.”
Until now, the Dnipropetrovsk oligarch Valeriy Shamotiy had practically owned the winery. Back in 2014, he moved part of the production from Sevastopol to the Tavria Cognac Factory , located in the Kherson region. As a result, the wines sold in Ukraine under the Inkerman brand were of very low quality.
The government of Sevastopol facilitated the change of ownership as best it could. It filed 9 lawsuits against Inkerman and intended to terminate the lease agreements for property and land with the winery and its subsidiaries. In addition, taxes were constantly recalculated and fines were imposed.
Ukrainian oligarch to lose control of Inkerman