YouCom Has Pledged 89% of Its Shares: Civilnet.am

Civilnet.am reports that Armenia's major telecommunications operator, YouCom, has pledged 89% of its shares to three banks since May 2018: HSBC Bank Armenia, Ardshinbank, and Ameriabank. This information comes from a decision by the Public Services Regulatory Commission dated May 18, 2018.

YouCom is linked to the family of former Finance Minister and former Head of the State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan. The shares owned by Gagik Khachatryan's three sons are all pledged. Additionally, 29% of the shares of another major participant in YouCom, AiYu Telecommunications, has been pledged to HSBC. The company AiYu Telecommunications is registered in Cyprus.

However, this is not the only change in YouCom in recent years. The government’s electronic registry reveals that in December 2017, YouCom's shares were acquired by the group of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who resides in Russia, through For Bank, part of the Tashir Group. Since May 2018, YouCom has also seen Surik Poghosyan, the brother-in-law of Samvel Karapetyan, become a shareholder. Surik Poghosyan is currently the director of general affairs for the Armenian Electric Networks (AEN), which is also owned by the Tashir Group.

Civilnet has posed several questions to the company’s director and shareholder Hayk Yesayan regarding the company's shareholders and the pledging of shares.

“If I’m not mistaken, we did not have any pledge decisions last year. If there was one, it was for capital investments; we have engaged financial resources through credit facilities, this is capital investment. Regarding changes in shareholders, yes, there have been, and that information can be found on the PSRC website. You can apply and obtain the information officially. Yes, Surik Poghosyan is investing in the company and will be a shareholder,” Yesayan stated.

For further details, visit Civilnet.am.