On 28 January, the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) approved the request of LLC Georgian Media Production Group to sell the shares of Imedi TV, the largest national broadcaster that maintains a strong pro-government editorial policy.
The new owners of the Georgia’s largest public broadcaster will be Hunnewell Partners, an asset management and recovery firm, who are also the owners of several enterprises in the country including MagtiCom, Rustavi Metallurgical Plant, Heidelberg Cement, Liberty Bank and IDS Borjomi. According to the latest data, the value of the channel’s assets is 24.6 million lari.
The Georgian Media Production Group was owned by Ina Gudavadze, the widow of oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili who founded TV channel Imedi in 2003. The family regained control over Imedi TV – which it had lost in late 2007 – when the owners, who had close links to the outgoing United National Movement government, returned the station a few days after the 2012 parliamentary elections that brought the Georgian Dream coalition to power. On January 11, 2020 local TV channel Formula announced that the new management of the TV channel Imedi will be staffed by the team of the owner of the television Irakli Rukhadze.
