Holding Metro Avrasya Georgia, founded by Turkish businessman Galip Ozturk, issued a statement on termination partnership with Green Insurance Georgia.
Metro Avrasya was the investor company of Green Insurance Georgia, while former Minister of Economy Dimitri Kumsishvili was the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the company.
According to Metro Avrasya Georgia, Dimitri Kumsishvili did not meet his partnership obligations and took part in the suspicious deal for the holding due to which Metro Avrasya Georgia was terminating its partnership with him.
“On February 7, 2020, JSC "Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia" and "New Investment Opportunities" Ltd received consent from the State Insurance Supervision Service of LEPL to purchase shares of JSC "International Insurance Company Kamara".
The company was soon rebranded, as a result of which the company continued to operate under the name "Green Insurance Georgia". At the same time, JSC Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia, took decision to increase the chartered capital to GEL 10,051,059, while the authorized capital – up to GEL 15,000,000. Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia stated then that this would contribute to the rapid development and transformation of the company.
New Investment Opportunities Ltd purchased insurance company with a loan issued with Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia, which founding beneficiary was Dimitri Kumsishvili.
On the basis of violating loan agreement by Dimitri Kumsishvili and due to the participation in the doubtful transaction, Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia took decision on termination partnership with Dimitri Kumsishvili.
According to Raul Kakhadze, director of Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia, the company made all efforts to avoid unreliable and tense relations between the partners, but Dimitri Kumsishvili, by his own decisions, was hindering development of Green Insurance Georgia. As the shares of JSC "Green Insurance Georgia" were traded on the Georgian Stock Exchange, the company had an obligation of maximum transparency, including within the activities carried out by the holder beneficiaries. Accordingly, Metro Holding carries out all kinds of partnerships with Dimitri Kumsishvili, affiliated with New Investment Opportunities Ltd and announces this decision in order not to associate the name of Metro Holding and the founding beneficiary - Galip Ozturk with the above-mentioned. Raul Kakhadze clarified that "Metro Holding" would continue to operate on the insurance market independently, without Dimitri Kumsishvili.
"It was the worst experience of the partnership I have ever had," Dimidtri Kumsishvili declared about the cooperation with Galip Ozturk’s Investment Holding.
According to Kumsishvili, Ozturk initially invited him to participate in Green Insurance and at the meeting Ozturk talked about the important results for which the insurance company should achieve, but later Metro Avrasya Investment Georgia refused to develop the company.
On January 14, 2022, Dimitri Kumsishvili transferred a 100% stake in “New Investment Opportunities” to Giorgi Kavlashvili, a company that owns 50% of Green Insurance Georgia.
"Our partnership started when I received an offer from Galip Ozturk to participate in this initiative, that he would sign a loan agreement with my company, with which I would buy a stake in this company. It really happened that way. However, in the loan agreement, I clearly stated that the source of the loan repayment should be the dividends received by the company, as I did not have other source. Consequently, the biggest motivation for me was to work for this company and generate a corresponding profit to pay off the loan.
Loan term was determined by 5 years; When we started working, I did my best, but I could not do anything, because they did not allow me. At the end of the second year, we presented a very good development plan, which enabled the company to generate relevant profits and repay the loan in dividends over 5 years.
After a month, we got “consent”, but a month later everything stopped. The general manager received a message that everything should be canceled. This raised a lot of questions, I started to clarify this story, but I still could not find out the real reason why this plan was stopped. More than a year had passed since then and nothing was done”, - Dimitri Kumsishvili said.
According to Giorgi Kavlashvili, new shareholder of the insurance company, “New Investment Opportunities" could not serve the debt of 5 million, which was followed by a loss of share by the company.
“I'm not really interested into the litigation, I want to bring it all to another shareholder and reassure them that this company has the opportunity to serve the liabilities and pay off the financial obligations. Mr. Dimitri found himself in a practically incomprehensible situation, because instead of developing the business, he had to protect himself from such strange pressures exerted by the other side.
The position, that the company should not develop means that New Investment Opportunities cannot repay a loan of GEL 5 million with dividends. If the company is not given the opportunity to develop and it will be unable to generate dividends, then it will not be able to repay this debt, which in the future may be the reason for the loss of these shares in the company.
We simply cannot find another explanation for their attitude and this action is intended to lose the company’s share, which will be seized by the other party, "- said Giorgi Kavlashvili.
According to the insurance market statistics, "Green Insurance Georgia" attracted premiums of GEL 2,270,000 in 9M2021 and ranks on the last place among 18 insurance companies.
