Moscow Times 22 May 2012
The $982.5 million sale of four development properties, including two luxury hotels, is moving Bidzina Ivanishvili a step closer to becoming a presidential candidate in Georgia and the Gutseriyev-Shishkhanov family closer to seizing the luxury hotel market in Moscow.
RussNeft owner Mikhail Gutseriyev and his nephew Mikhail Shishkhanov, owner of BIN Bank, bought the development assets from Ivanishvili’s Unicor Group last week.
Gutseriyev will be the final owner of the Kauchuk rubber plant territory in Ochakovo and the Summit multifunctional complex, which houses the InterContinental Moscow Tverskaya hotel, a shopping mall and a business center. The billionaire is also taking over the reconstruction of the former Tsentralnaya Hotel in central Moscow. Ivanishvili had earlier promised to restore the building’s historic features and its old name Lyuks Hotel.
The ownership of the elite residential complex Sadoviye Kvartali, currently being built near the Frunzenskaya metro station, will pass to Shishkhanov.
Discussions over the sale of the assets began in October 2011, according to Unicor’s press service. The deal is expected to be finalized by Aug. 15.