The wine company Golden Brand, owned by the Georgia Development Fund, was sold on its fifth auction for just 150,000 GEL - a 98% drop from its original starting price of 7.5 million GEL. Previous auctions failed to attract buyers, with starting prices gradually lowered from 7.5 million to 3.7 million, 950,000, and then 300,000 GEL.
Founded in 2017 as Global Brand, the company aimed to export Georgian wine, particularly the Lost Eden label, to the U.S. market. Unlike other Fund projects where the Fund held minority stakes, Global Brand was fully owned by the Fund, which bore all business risks and invested several million GEL. Despite these efforts, the project ultimately failed to succeed internationally.
The initiative was based on businessman Levan Gachechiladze’s idea. In 2020, he noted that although the state assumed commercial risk, the project could have brought significant benefits if successful. At the time, the Fund’s executive director, David Saganelidze, explained that the Fund retained the right to auction the company if it failed to reach an 11% IRR.
Financially, Global Brand was never profitable, with investments written down in Fund reports. The company owns no real estate, and its movable assets and stock levels are unclear. Its financial statements are not publicly available, leaving details about wine sales, assets, and liabilities unknown.
