Georgian Glass and Mineral Water Company (GG&MW) has retained license for extraction and production of Borjomi mineral water after pledging USD 8 million in an auction held by the Economy Ministry on March 20.

GG&MW, the company producing Borjomi mineral water for over a decade and owner of ‘Borjomi’ trademark, was the only participant of the auction for 25-year license.

The company has paid USD 1 million in advance and the remaining USD 7.2 million will be paid by the end of this year, Zaza Kikvadze, GG&MW chief executive, said.

GG&MW had lost GEL 25 million in 2006 after Russia banned import of Georgian mineral waters. However, by 2008 the company managed to overcome the crisis and sales volumes reached to pre-2006 figures, according to GG&MW. The sales and export of Borjomi mineral water dropped again starting from October 2008 by 30-40% because of the global financial crisis, the company said.