Stanton Equities Corp. has won a tender on the privatization of 97.25% shares of the Madneuli mining company and 50% shares of Trans Georgian Resource Ltd - which focuses on exploration of ore - after offering USD 51.1 million, Georgian Economy Minister Irakli Chogovadze announced on November 1.

The Stanton Equities Corp is a London-based company founded by the Russian Industrial Investors Group (Promyshlennye Investory).
 
Out of this sum, USD 35.1 million will be paid for the 97.25% shares of Madneuli, while USD 16 million will be paid to the state budget to cover the company’s debts. Madneuli itself owns 50% of shares of the Georgian-Australian joint gold mining company Quartzite LTD.
 
The Georgian Economy Minister said that the Stanton Equities Corp. has undertaken the commitment to pay 50% of the sum by November 15, 2005 and the rest by December 15, 2005.
 
The Hong-Kong-based company Energy and Industry Complex was also participating in the tender and offered USD 40.6 million. “The British company offered USD 10 million more [than Energy and Industry Complex] so we preferred the British company,” Irakli Chogovadze said.
 
The main operations of the Madneuli include mining, processing and production of copper concentrate.