The US Atmosphere Entertainment became a major shareholder of Espresso TV by purchasing 77.5% stake in Goldberry LLC that runs Espresso TV in Ukraine. The final beneficiary of the US company is Ivan Zhevago, a son of the Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Zhevago who is a final beneficiary of the iron ore Ferrexpo.
The US Atmosphere Entertainment purchased 30% stake of Astra Finance LLC from the former PM Arseiy Yatseniuk’s wife and 40% stake from Inna Avakova who is wife of the incumbent internal minister. The company also bought a number 7.5% shares from another shareholder mrs Larisa Kniazhytska, wife of the co-founder of the TV channel, who was MP Mykola Kniazhytskiy.
As a result of the deal, the final beneficiaries of Espresso TV are Atmosphere Entertainment with 77.5% shares and mrs Larisa Kniazhytska holding 22.5% stake.
The Internal Minister of Ukraine mr Arsen Avakov confirmed that his wife earned USD 1.953mln for her 40% stake. The minister assured that UAH 9.7mln will be officially paid in taxes to Ukraine’s budget.
The TV channel claims that it will not change its content and editorial approaches following the deal. Espresso TV channel was established in autumn 2013 by Mykola Knyazhitskiy and Vadim Denisenko the former editor-in-chief of the weekly Comments.
