ARMA vs. oligarch Friedman: “Morshynska will be evaluated again
11 June 2025 11:37
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) has announced two new tenders for the valuation of the assets of the Morshynska trademark owned by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. This comes amid active opposition from the companies that own the brand, which refuse to provide the information necessary for the assessment, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The context of the case
The corporate rights of Morshynska, which are currently under arrest and managed by the ARMA, belong to Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman through the company IDS Ukraine, which owns the trademarks of the famous mineral water brand.
The history of managing these assets has not been easy. In 2022, the corporate rights of Morshynska were seized and transferred to the management of the ARMA. In February 2023, the agency announced a tender for the manager of Morshynska’s assets, and in March of the same year, Carpathian Mineral Waters LLC was recognized as the winner. However, the cooperation did not last long – in March 2025, the agency terminated the contract with this company.
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The company demands transparency from ARMA
As reported by Channel 24, in December 2024, the situation around the valuation of Morshynska’s assets escalated significantly. IDS Ukraine publicly appealed to the ARMA to provide reports on the valuation of the shares of IDS and Oscar, which was carried out in 2023.
The main conflict arose due to fundamental differences in the valuation of the assets. According to the company, ARMA engaged an appraiser who determined the value of IDS Ukraine’s assets at only UAH 1.4 billion. The company argued that an independent assessment conducted in parallel put the value of the assets at UAH 3 billion, twice as much as the agency’s figures.
IDS Ukraine sharply criticized ARMA’s assessment, calling it “out of touch with reality.” The company noted that UAH 1.4 billion is only slightly more than the current amount of the company’s bank balances (UAH 1.2 billion), and such an estimate does not take into account
- the cost of modern production equipment;
- tens of thousands of units of trade equipment;
- significant market share and brand capitalization;
- an increase in the value of assets to UAH 4.6 billion as of the end of 2024.
The key problem was the company’s lack of access to the results of ARMA’s assessment. IDS Ukraine has repeatedly sent official requests to the agency to provide a report on the valuation of assets, as without this it is impossible to challenge the results in court.
According to the current legislation, ARMA’s assessment expired in March 2024, but the agency insisted on its relevance, while the assessment was neither officially published nor provided to the company for review.
ARMA’s position: Morshynska’s owners are not cooperating
The ARMA claims that the Western Interregional Territorial Department of the agency has made official requests to:
- international distribution systems limited;
- joint Stock Company “Morshyn Mineral Water Plant “Oscar”.
The purpose of the requests was to obtain information and documents necessary for a qualitative and objective valuation of the assets.
However, the responses to these letters were unconstructive – they contained only objections to the legitimacy of ARMA’s claims, without providing the requested information.
The Agency has formulated its position on the assessment process:
- the assessment will be as objective as possible and will correspond to the market value;
- the process will be transparent and follow all established procedures;
- the assets should generate revenues for the state budget of Ukraine.
ARMA emphasizes that it continues to actively monitor the situation around the process of assessing Morshynska’s assets. The Agency is checking through the relevant regulatory authorities all suspicious attempts to influence the assessment process, demonstrating its readiness to resist any attempts at pressure or manipulation.
The valuation of Morshynska’s assets will be an important step in the process of further management of these strategic assets, which have long belonged to Russian capital.
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