Georgia will serve as a hub for News Corporation’s further expansion in the post-Soviet region, media and business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili has said.

Patarkatsishvili met with Rupert Murdoch, the founder of media giant News Corporation, in New York on September 25. Patarkatsishvili and News Corporation co-own the Tbilisi-based Imedi Media Holding, which acts as an umbrella for a TV station and radio station.

“Serious investments are anticipated and Georgia will turn into a major regional player in this market,” Patarkatsishvili told Imedi TV.

He also said he had invited Murdoch to Georgia, who was expected to visit next year.

Patarkatsishvili also said that the meeting with Murdoch was “very fruitful and we have agreed on all the proposals we came here with.”

Recently, Patarkatsishvili strongly denied speculation that he planned to give up shares in Imedi Media Holding in exchange for the state-owned Georgian Railway. “There is no asset in Georgia worth being swapped for Imedi,” he said on September 10.