Haykakan Zhamanak
June 16 2010
US businessman sells his shares of Armenia TV
A US businessman of Armenian origin, Gerard Cafesjian who owned 50 per
cent of shares of a privately-owned television channel based in
Yerevan, has sold his shares for 25m dollars, the pro-opposition
Armenian daily Haykakan Zhamanak reported on 16 June.
There has been no official information on the deal, the paper said
adding that it had failed to get hold of the channel, Armenia TV, or
Gerard Cafesjian’s office for comment. Haykakan Zhamanak claimed that
President Serzh Sargsyan’s son-in-law, Mikayel Minasyan, is now in
control of the shares.
Cafesjian has been selling out his businesses in Armenia of late, the
paper said. He sold his Cascade Bank in April 2010 and later the
Cascade Insurance Company.
The author of the report, Hayk Gevorgyan, does not rule out that
Cafesjian has been forced to sell his shares of Armenia TV. But he
also supports the view that Gafesjian simply sells his businesses for
money. Gevorgyan says that Cafesjian is not a benefactor but rather a
businessman. The sum he has made from the sale of his businesses in
Armenia is bigger than the amount he has invested in the country,
Gevorgyan says. He adds that Gafesjian has made 45m dollars from the
sale of his shares in Armenia TV and Cascade Bank.
From: A. Papazian