State water company sold, but few details about the buyer
By Ana Datiashvili

Tbilisi Water is being sold, the Economic Development Ministry confirmed on October 27, but officials had few details about the company chosen to own and operate the capital’s water supply.

Swiss-registered Multiplex Solutions AG placed the winning bid of USD 85 million for the state-owned water distribution company.

Tbilisi Vice-Mayor Mamuka Akhvlediani said ten companies vied for the contract, including three Czech companies, a Georgian company and a Spanish company.

The Spanish company, Aqualia, placed the highest bid of USD 107.6 million, but government officials said other criteria, including willingness to invest more money and to keep down water prices for consumers, factored into their decision.

“All the criteria…were satisfied by Multiplex Solutions, which is why we chose this company,” Akhvlediani stated.

According to Tbilisi City Hall, the company plans to invest USD 350 million into the water company, and pledged to maintain residential water prices, now a flat 2.45 GEL monthly for each family member, until 2010.

After that, the company plans to increase the residential price to GEL 2.95.

Andro Basilaia, a representative of Multiplex Solutions’ Tbilisi office, told journalists the company plans to spend USD 235 million on fixing up the capital’s water supply system.

The company has never managed a water distributor, he added, and would outsource operations to another firm.

There was little information available about the company or its history as of October 29.

Officials at Tbilisi City Hall, the Ministry of Economic Development and Tbilisi Water all said they knew nothing more than what was announced.

A Swiss business registry listed Multiplex Solutions AG as a limited liability company.

Under Swiss law, Multiplex Solutions’ shareholders and board of directors do not have to be Swiss citizens, according to the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.

The government announced the Tbilisi Water sale the same week it confirmed that a separate deal to lease management rights to the country’s rail network fell through.

The Economic Development Ministry announced in August that an off-shore company with anonymous backers would run Georgian Railways for nearly a century.

In scuttling the deal, officials said that they needed to find a company better suited to the country’s economic interests.

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