TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s richest says he has sold his last assets in Russia. A US fund purchases Stolenskaya Niva for USD 180 million.

Russian media informs that Unikor Company, which manages Bidzina Ivanishvili’s assets, has finished the sale of Russian assets.

Arco International Group, which is a US investment fund, purchased Stolenskaya Niva, an agriculture-industrial corporation. The company is market leader in Russia in producing bread and buns. It also produces flour and confectionery products. The purchase amounted to USD 180 million and the deal will be finalized in up to two months.

Stolenskaya Niva was founded in 2000, and is currently one of the largest holding companies in the agriculture-industrial sector in Russia. The company has branches in 10 districts of the Russian federation. It owns 14 bread and 5 grain processing plants. Up to ten thousand people are employed in the company.

A few days ago, the Georgian Dream coalition leader met with Francesco Piovanetti, CEO of Arco International Group. After the meeting Bidzina Ivanishvili said that they planned to implement common projects in the future.

“Agriculture is our priority,” he said, “they are interested in implementing investments in Georgia. We discussed many topics and I hope we will deepen our relationships in the future.”

The businessman informed his guests about having an investment bank.

“In case investing I will provide 25 percent of capital for free. My proposal deepened their interest.”

Francesco Piovantetti also noted that parties had interesting meeting, discussion important issues. He confirmed that his company plans to invest in agriculture sector.

The new owner of Stolenskaya Niva said they will expand the business and change the marketing strategy of the holding company.

Earlier, Ivanishvili sold the pharmacy chain Doktor Stoletov for USD 60 million, a developing business for USD 983 and a Bank Rosisky Kredit for USD 352.

Bidzina Ivanishvili started selling his assets in Russia shortly after he announced that he was planning to enter into Georgian politics. The government accuses him of investing Russian money in Georgian politics, that’s why he made a decision to sell his assets in Russia. Forbes magazine evaluated his fortune to USD 6.4 million in October.