The State Committee for Protection of Economic Competition of Armenia has banned a deal on 100% amalgamation of Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House LLC by Helvelex AG, a Switzerland-based wholesale, finance and trading company.
The Committee adopted the given decision on 14 March casting doubt on the company's source of financing. The total capital of the Swiss company engaged in sale of strong drinks is some 50,000 Swiss franks. The company's representative failed to answer the question by Committee Chairman Artak Shaboyan as to whether the
Swiss company has 22 mln franks to acquire the Armenian company.
Another argument against the deal is the market centralization. The Committee considered the deal as an attempt to strengthen the dominating position in the market.
At the Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House LLC they refused to comment on the deal to ArmInfo's correspondent unless the company leadership is in the country.
Shahnazaryan Wine-Brandy House LLC is not a big producer of wines and brandy. Neither the company publishes its financial reports. The company's place in the list of 1000 big taxpayers of Armenia in 2012 was only 884. The company paid 92 million drams to the state budget in 2012.