A corruption expert has suggested that Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is attempting to “flee from offshore” after the ownership of several companies linked to his Co-Investment Fund (GCF) was transferred from entities registered in Luxembourg directly to Ivanishvili’s wife, Ekaterine Khvedelidze.
The changes, involving at least eight companies previously owned by Luxembourg-based LLC GCF Luxembourg, took place in late August, according to publicly available registry documents. The move comes two years after Georgian Dream amended legislation to facilitate the transfer of assets from offshore jurisdictions, and follows earlier reports of similar moves involving Ivanishvili-linked assets from offshore jurisdictions to Georgia.
The change was first reported by Irakli Abesadze, a former MP from the opposition United National Movement party and corruption researcher who heads the Center for Civic Participation, a local civil society organization. Describing the changes as “Ivanishvili’s flight from offshore,” Abesadze identified the ultimate parent company of the entities as Cayman Islands-registered GCF LP. He hinted that, through similar moves, Ivanishvili may be seeking to avoid potential British sanctions, given that the Cayman Islands are under UK jurisdiction.
According to a report by RFE/RL Georgian Service, Khvedelidze, Ivanishvili’s wife, has been GCF LP’s ultimate beneficial owner, indicating that the changes affect the location rather than the individual owner. GCF is an abbreviation for the Georgian Co-Investment Fund, an investment vehicle established by Ivanishvili in 2013 to become a major investor across various sectors of the Georgian economy.
Among the companies whose ownership has been transferred from the Luxembourg-based company to Khvedelidze are:
- LLC Mtkvari Holding (Mtkvari HPP owner)
- LLC Axis Towers (owns Axis Towers multifunctional complex in Tbilisi)
- LLC Galleria Holding (owns Galleria Tbilisi mall)
- LLC GreenHouse Holding
- LLC Agro Holding (owner of Planta agricultural products company)
- LLC Resort Holding
- LLC Emvi Holding
- LLC Lentekhi Holding
While Ivanishvili has been sanctioned by the U.S., the billionaire, who currently serves as the ruling Georgian Dream party’s honorary chairman, has so far been spared British sanctions. Instead, the UK has sanctioned Georgian officials and judges, as well as other Georgian political figures, two pro-government Georgian television channels, and Georgia-based cryptocurrency companies.
In January 2025, Transparency International (TI) Georgia, a local corruption watchdog, said that if the UK were to sanction Ivanishvili, the sanctions would cover more than 95 companies — “nearly the entire business empire of the Ivanishvili family” — linked to the billionaire and ultimately registered in UK territories, including the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
(The UK has remained Georgia’s largest source of foreign direct investment for months. According to the latest data from Georgia’s National Statistics Office, the UK accounted for nearly 20% of total FDI inflows in Georgia in the first quarter of 2026.)
In 2024, Georgian Dream adopted controversial amendments to the tax code, dubbed the “offshore law,” which offered a range of tax benefits to facilitate the transfer of offshore assets to Georgia.
Since then, and particularly following the U.S. sanctions on Ivanishvili in late 2024, independent media and watchdog groups have reported instances of Ivanishvili-linked businesses being transferred to Georgia, including through newly established Georgian-registered companies.
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