Source: NOTUS, “A New Generation of MAGA Megadonors Is Emerging — And They’re Swamping Democrats”
February 19, 2026
A NOTUS analysis of new campaign finance disclosures reveals that donors with little or no history of federal contributions are pumping millions of dollars into MAGA Inc., President Trump’s flagship super PAC. While Trump is constitutionally ineligible for a third term, the influx could boost Republicans in the 2026 midterms and endear donors to the president. Konstantin Sokolov is among them.
Konstantin Sokolov, a private equity investor, went from making a few four-figure contributions in years past to cutting checks worth a combined $11 million to MAGA Inc. in 2025. He also donated an undisclosed amount toward the White House ballroom project.
Other notable new megadonors include:
Crypto.com (Foris Dax): $30 million since Trump took office. The company also spent nearly $2 million lobbying federal policymakers in 2025 and scored a win when the CFTC announced plans to regulate prediction markets, potentially preempting stricter state rules.
Greg and Anna Brockman (OpenAI): $50 million total — $25 million to MAGA Inc. and $25 million to an AI-focused super PAC. Before 2025, Greg Brockman’s largest federal contribution was $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Asha Jadeja: $5 million to MAGA Inc., plus $100,000 in January 2025. A former Democrat, she cited immigration policies and voter ID concerns as reasons for her shift.
Elon Musk: $65 million in 2025, more than any other individual.
Jeff Yass: Nearly $54.5 million.
The new megadonors have helped MAGA Inc. raise over $289 million in 2025, entering 2026 with $304 million cash on hand — far outpacing Democratic counterparts.
Context for the archive: Sokolov’s sudden emergence as a seven-figure political donor coincides with other developments documented in this archive:
His $100 million donation to Chicago Booth, which renamed its Executive MBA Program in his honor
The acquisition of Viva Armenia (formerly MTS Armenia) through Fedilco Group Limited, alongside Zhe Zhang
The $11 million in political contributions — combined with an undisclosed donation to the White House ballroom project — represents a significant escalation in Sokolov’s U.S. political engagement.
According to FEC records, his previous federal contributions were limited to four-figure amounts, including $3,600 to Obama’s 2008 campaign.
From a Swiss holding company in Baar to a five-star lifestyle hotel near Zurich Airport — the paper trail leads to the same tight-knit, Russian-speaking network. Follow the signatures.
The Holding Nobody Talks About
Hidden behind a modest address at Lindenstrasse 16 in Baar, canton Zug, sits MFM Global Invest AG — a Swiss holding company with virtually no public profile, no website, and no employees to speak of. Its registered purpose is dry as toast: the financing, management, and holding of participations in companies of all kinds.
But what it holds is anything but boring. MFM Global Invest AG controls 74.99% of AMIO BANK — a fully licensed Armenian commercial bank with 38 branches, over 1,000 employees, and a balance sheet that received a capital injection of approximately USD 188 million in March 2022 alone. One of the oldest banks in Armenia, formerly known as ARMBUSINESSBANK (founded 1991), it was rebranded as AMIO BANK in November 2023.
The bank’s supervisory board was described at the time of the capital injection as consisting of “experienced and highly reputable bankers and experts from Switzerland and Armenia.” The money came quietly, without fanfare, through a Swiss holding. The ultimate beneficial owners of MFM Global Invest AG have never been officially disclosed by the company itself. However, investigative journalists at Armenian outlet Hetq.am reported that Zhe Zhang and Konstantin Sokolov were involved in the purchase of Armbusinessbank. The chairman of AMIO BANK’s board, Alfred Moekli, stated after the deal that MFM Global is owned by an investment fund operating in Liechtenstein — the identity of which has never been made public.
In May 2024, a two-line entry in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB) recorded the departure of Gerard Hofmann — a financial manager from Uetikon am See and partner at Invest-Partners Wealth Management AG — as the sole signatory director of MFM Global Invest AG. No press release, no farewell interview.
What the SHAB entry doesn’t mention is that Hofmann had also been serving on the Supervisory Board of ARMBUSINESSBANK / AMIO BANK itself — a role he held throughout the bank’s transformation period, during which he gave a public interview in April 2023 describing Armenia as “a fantastic and marvellously beautiful country” and outlining the bank’s ambitions for international expansion. By mid-2024, his name had disappeared from the bank’s management page entirely.
A competent professional with a track record in Swiss wealth management — now gone. His replacement could not be more different.
Act Two: Enter the Recruiter and Master of Arts
The man who replaced Hofmann as sole signatory director of MFM Global Invest AG — and thereby the key control figure over Armenia’s major Swiss-owned bank holding — is Georg Murmann, a German national residing in Rheineck, canton St. Gallen.
His professional profile is, to put it diplomatically, unusual for this role.
According to his own Xing profile, Murmann’s current occupation is Personalvermittler und Recruitment Consultant at Mevelin AG — a Lucerne-based employment agency specialising in placing Russian-speaking professionals in Switzerland. His academic background, listed publicly at his own editorial site, is a Master of Arts in Languages, Linguistics, Pedagogy and International Journalism. He writes extensively in Russian, maintains Russian-language social media channels, and runs a creative editorial operation — the “Georg Murmann Editorial Office” — that is deeply integrated into the Russian-speaking digital landscape.
On his personal website, Murmann describes himself as:
A success-oriented professional with extensive international experience
The author of several published books, numerous essays and other texts, journalist, referent, editor and translator
Combining an understanding of technological processes with a commercial flair
Strong in the negotiation process, communication in several languages
I solve problems and generate profits
Possession of specific knowledge of the market in various regions of the planet: Russia – Europe, as well as the USA – Canada
If you need a specialist you can rely on, capable of not only performing routine work, but also possessing a synergistic talent, literary taste and a head on his shoulders, I am your man.
Before May 2024, Georg Murmann had zero mandates recorded in the Swiss commercial register. He had never appeared as a director, board member, or signatory of any Swiss company.
Then, in the space of twenty months, he became the sole legal control point of three companies — two of them directly linked to one of Zurich’s most prominent five-star hotels.
Act Three: The Hotel
In January 2026, two entries in the SHAB for the canton of Zurich recorded an overnight management sweep at the structures behind Kameha Grand Zurich — a landmark five-star lifestyle hotel near Zurich Airport in Opfikon, operated under the LH&E Group brand.
13 January 2026 — LH&E Management AG: The entire previous board — chairman Peter Mettler, Elia Bruno, and Carmine Puopolo — was removed simultaneously. Georg Murmann was appointed sole member of the board of directors with single-signature authority.
20 January 2026 — Kameha Grand Glattpark Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (the hotel’s direct operating entity): Same three names out, same one name in. Murmann appointed Vorsitzender der Geschäftsführung — Managing Director — again with sole signing authority.
In Swiss corporate practice, a single person replacing an entire management team simultaneously, with unrestricted sole-signature authority, in both the management company and the operating entity of a major asset, is a textbook structure for a nominee directorship — a legal placeholder installed to hold formal control during or following a change of beneficial ownership.
To be clear: Georg Murmann is almost certainly not running the Kameha Grand Zurich. He is a linguist and recruiter. But he is signing for it. The question is who tells him what to sign.
The Network That Connects It All
Here is where the picture sharpens.
Murmann’s employer, Mevelin AG, is not just a recruitment firm. Founded by Elena Budagashvili, a Russian-German businesswoman based in Lucerne, it is a registered member of the Swiss Russian Chamber of Commerce (SRCC) — an organisation whose explicit mission is developing business relationships between Switzerland and Russia. Budagashvili, like Murmann, is a prolific Russian-language content creator, deeply embedded in the Russian-speaking professional diaspora in Switzerland.
The Swiss Russian Chamber of Commerce is a business network and a management forum that develops relationships between Switzerland and Russia.
Now look at the Supervisory Board of AMIO BANK — the bank controlled by MFM Global, where Murmann now holds the sole signing mandate: sitting there is Dr. Ariel Sergio Davidoff, a Zurich-based lawyer and financier. Since 2021, Davidoff has been a member of the Foundation Board of the Swiss Russian Forum Foundation, Zurich — the Chamber of Commerce arm of which explicitly enhances cooperation between market players in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Russian Federation.
The same Swiss-Russian institutional orbit. The same bank. The same Murmann.
Davidoff’s own profile at AMIO BANK reads like a who’s who of Zurich finance and philanthropy — Jockey Club Zurich, Rolls Royce Enthusiasts’ Club Switzerland, Wealthbriefing Global Editorial Board, Swiss Capital Market Forum. A man with deep roots in both elite Swiss society and the Swiss-Russian business world, sitting on the supervisory board of a bank whose sole Swiss holding company is now controlled, on paper, by a Russian-speaking linguist-recruiter from Rheineck.
The Hypothesis
This article makes no claim that a sale of Kameha Grand Zurich has occurred. No such transaction has been publicly announced. The hotel has historically been associated with institutional Swiss real estate investment structures, including UBS SIMA (UBS Swiss Mixed Sima), one of Switzerland’s largest publicly traded real estate funds — but no official ownership transfer has been confirmed by any party.
What can be stated, based entirely on public records: a Russian-speaking linguist with no prior corporate governance history now holds sole legal control — simultaneously — over the majority shareholder of an Armenian bank with Swiss roots, the management company of a five-star Zurich hotel, and the hotel’s direct operating entity. He works for a recruitment agency embedded in the Swiss-Russian business network. The bank he indirectly controls has a board member who sits on the foundation board of the Swiss-Russian Forum. His employer’s founder shares the same Russian-speaking creative and professional world.
The simplest explanation that accounts for all these facts: the beneficial owners behind MFM Global — and possibly behind the Kameha Grand restructuring — are part of the same Russian-speaking investor diaspora operating through Swiss legal structures. Georg Murmann and Elena Budagashvili are the culturally and linguistically trusted faces who make the paperwork work.
Who those beneficial owners ultimately are remains, for now, a question the Swiss commercial register cannot answer.
The Evidence Map
FactSourceMFM Global Invest AG owns 74.99% of AMIO BANK
Hofmann removed as MFM Global director, May 2024 SHAB 23.05.2024
Murmann: zero prior Swiss mandates before 2024 Moneyhouse
Murmann appointed sole director, LH&E Management AG, Jan 2026 SHAB 13.01.2026
Murmann appointed Managing Director, Kameha Grand Glattpark, Jan 2026 SHAB 20.01.2026
Mevelin AG: member of Swiss Russian Chamber of Commerce SRCC — Mevelin AG
Davidoff: AMIO BANK Supervisory Board + Swiss Russian Forum Foundation AMIO BANK profile
All corporate data cited in this article derives from the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB), the Moneyhouse commercial register, and the official website of AMIO BANK — all publicly verifiable sources. The ownership hypotheses presented are the author’s analytical conclusions based on structural observations, and should be treated as informed conjecture pending any official disclosure.
Source: PANews / KuCoin, “Trump’s Midterm Election Donors Include Crypto.com and OpenAI”
February 4, 2026
Campaign finance disclosures show that donors from the AI and cryptocurrency industries are pouring millions into Republican super PACs ahead of the 2026 midterms. Konstantin Sokolov, a private equity investor from Russia, is among them.
Full list of notable donors:
Crypto.com (Foris Dax): $30 million
Greg Brockman (OpenAI) and Anna Brockman: $25 million
Jeff Yass (SIG): $16 million
Kelcy Warren (energy): $12.5 million
Konstantin Sokolov (TBD): $11 million
Extremity Care and affiliates: $10 million
Elon Musk: $5 million
Blockchain.com: $5 million
Asha Jadeja: $5 million
Ben Horowitz (A16Z): $3 million
Marc Andreessen (A16Z): $3 million
RAI Service Company (tobacco): $3 million
Julio Herrera Velutini and daughter: $3.5 million
Jeffrey Sprecher (ICE, NYSE): $2.5 million
Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson: $2 million
William E. Ford: $1.25 million
Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys): $1 million
John Hess (Chevron): $1 million
Susan Hess: $1 million
Warren Stephens: $1 million
Jared Isaacman: $1 million
According to KuCoin, Trump raised a total of $429 million, with his super PAC holding $304 million — tens of millions more than Democratic counterparts.
Context: Unlike corporate donors like Crypto.com ($30M) or individuals tied to visible companies (OpenAI’s Brockmans, Chevron’s Hess), Sokolov operates through IJS Investments — a private equity firm with a polished website that describes its focus as “critical infrastructure,” “telecommunications,” “energy,” and “financial services.” What it does not disclose: any specific portfolio companies, past investments, or sources of capital. The site offers vision statements but no verifiable track record. Sokolov’s $11 million in political donations thus raises the same questions as his other ventures: what interests does this money serve, and where did it come from?
At some point in the early 2020s, businessman Konstantin Sokolov acquired something increasingly common among wealthy and politically exposed entrepreneurs: a professionally managed digital biography. Explaining the origin of the funds for acquiring a national Armenian telecommunications operator, however, is a somewhat more complicated exercise — especially when the wealth in question is said to originate from the Russian business period of his career.
His profile appears on The Marque, a London-based service created by Andrew Wessels. The platform presents itself as a “verified biography network” for global leaders and investors. In practice, it functions as a controlled reference page: a polished biography designed to appear prominently in search results and serve as a quotable source for journalists.
The structure of the profile is typical for the platform. It emphasizes international business activity, investment themes, and philanthropic initiatives, while presenting a concise narrative intended to define how the subject is described online.
The Marque does not publicly disclose pricing. Media references have suggested a baseline subscription around £1,000 per year plus a setup fee for producing and maintaining a profile. However, reputation management for high-profile clients rarely stops at a single webpage. Comparable services in the personal-branding and reputation-management market often involve editorial work, media outreach, and search-engine positioning. Analysts generally estimate that maintaining such an ecosystem can cost roughly $10,000–$50,000 annually, depending on the scale of activity.
In other words, the biography page is usually only the visible part of a broader reputation strategy.
Platforms like The Marque often support clients beyond the core profile. This can include preparing biographies for other online databases, coordinating background materials used by journalists, and ensuring that favorable sources appear prominently in search results. In practice this sometimes overlaps with traditional reputation management: developing positive news angles, arranging interviews, or supporting philanthropic announcements that generate new media coverage.
The goal is not simply to publish a biography, but to create a consistent narrative across the internet.
A Platform Used by High-Profile and Complex Clients
The client base of The Marque illustrates the type of individuals who use such services: hedge-fund managers, billionaires, diplomats, and politically connected business figures. Public profiles on the platform include well-known names such as Igor Tulchinsky, Pierre Andurand, and former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
Alongside mainstream financial and political figures, the platform has also hosted profiles for individuals whose careers have occasionally been the subject of scrutiny or controversy in business or political reporting. Examples often cited in discussions of the platform include:
• Bulat Utemuratov • Galimzhan Yessenov • Konstantin Grigorishin • Vladimir Stolyarenko • Igor Tulchinsky • Pierre Andurand • Israel Englander • Nick Candy • Yousef Al Otaiba
Mentioning these names does not imply wrongdoing. It simply reflects a practical reality of the reputation-management industry: individuals operating in global finance, politics, or large-scale business frequently face complicated public narratives and therefore invest in shaping how their biographies appear online.
For readers, platforms like The Marque offer a convenient biographical reference. For clients, they provide something slightly different: a structured version of their story that can travel across the web, citations, and search results with far fewer surprises.
NEW YORK / TALLINN / YEREVAN — The ambitious cross-border merger between Alpha Star Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: ALSA) and Estonian-registered fintech company OU XDATA Group has entered a new phase of uncertainty. According to December 2025 SEC filings, the deadline to finalize the transaction has been officially extended to December 15, 2026 — with the possibility of two additional three-month extensions if the parties need more time to grind through the remaining issues.
The Strategic “Armenian Connection”
The deal brings together a curious mix: a Baltic legal shell and Armenian operational muscle. XDATA Group, led by Roman Eloshvili, is registered in Estonia but maintains its primary R&D hubs and core engineering team in Armenia. On the other side, Alpha Star’s board — including director Konstantin Sokolov — brings what its prospectus calls “deep expertise” in CIS and Armenian investment landscapes, particularly in telecommunications. In other words, everyone knows everyone.
According to the definitive proxy statement filed with the SEC in April 2025, Konstantin Sokolov is listed as a director of Alpha Star and holds an interest in its sponsor, A-Star Management Corporation — the entity poised to benefit most from the deal. The numbers tell the story: the sponsor acquired 2,875,000 founder shares for just $25,000 (or $0.0087 apiece) and 330,000 private units for $3.3 million. By the time the proxy was filed, those stakes were valued at roughly $49 million combined — a paper fortune contingent entirely on closing the merger. Meanwhile, public shareholders had all but vanished: from over 10 million shares initially, only 22,664 remained in public hands by the end of 2024. Add to that the pressure from Nasdaq, which delisted Alpha Star in December 2024 for missing its 36-month deadline to complete a business combination, and you have the backdrop against which the deal’s timeline has now stretched to December 2026.
The following chart illustrates the corporate structure of PubCo and its subsidiaries post-Business Combination:
Navigating the Storm
Since the initial announcement on September 13, 2024, the $180 million merger has faced a series of grinding challenges that explain the prolonged timeline:
The SPAC Hangover: Massive shareholder redemptions — a common fate for special purpose acquisition companies in the post-boom era — have left the trust account under pressure. What was once a $200 million+ vehicle now has significantly less firepower.
Regulatory Scrutiny: Due to XDATA’s Estonian registration and the leadership’s ties to the Armenian tech ecosystem (a region that attracts extra attention from Western regulators), the due diligence process has been exceptionally rigorous. Compliance with global standards does not come cheap or fast.
Liquidity Hurdles: Low trading volume on Nasdaq has complicated the search for necessary PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) financing. Without fresh capital, the deal math becomes harder to close.
The Road Ahead
Despite these headwinds, the extension to December 2026 signals one thing: both Konstantin Sokolov’s team and Roman Eloshvili are still committed to seeing the deal through — or at least, neither has found a cleaner exit yet. The stated goal remains a successful Nasdaq listing, positioning the combined entity as a bridge between the emerging Armenian tech hub and global capital markets.
Whether the grinding stones of Ararat will produce flour or simply grind the deal to dust remains to be seen. For now, the clock has been reset — twice over.
Sources: Alpha Star Acquisition Corp. SEC filings (December 2025), investor relations disclosures, public regulatory databases.
Source: The Guardian, “Why did Donald Trump Jr turn up in a tiny British enclave looking for money?”
In November 2025, Donald Trump Jr. visited Gibraltar, a British overseas territory known as a haven for the ultra-rich. Armed police blocked off roads as his convoy arrived at Hassans, a law firm representing international clients. The purpose of the visit was never officially disclosed.
The Trumps’ only obvious connection to Gibraltar was the $300m White House ballroom renovation project. In October 2025, the president published a list of donors. Alongside tech companies and weapons manufacturers was Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born US businessman who now represents Armenian business interests.
Sokolov is looking for financing a £1.8bn AI data centre in Gibraltar — the largest outside investment in the enclave’s history. His local representative attended the meetings at Hassans, alongside Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo.
According to sources briefed on the meetings, Trump Jr. was not there for the data centre. Instead, he pitched his own investment funds, including 1789 Capital — described as the “financial wing of the MAGA movement” — which he joined after his father returned to the White House.
Context for the archive: Sokolov’s presence in Gibraltar — and his connection to Trump Jr.’s visit — reinforces a recurring pattern: Russian-born capital, routed through Armenian structures (Viva Armenia, AMIO Bank), now intersects with Trump family business interests. The Guardian notes Sokolov as “Russian-born,” but his current business identity is firmly tied to Armenia — a jurisdiction increasingly used as a proxy for Russian financial operations. Whether this is diversification or deliberate distancing remains an open question.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, “White House donor list for Trump’s ballroom includes Chicago entrepreneur”
Konstantin Sokolov, head of Chicago-based private equity firm IJS Investments, is among the 37 donors helping to fund the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House.
The $300 million project, championed by President Trump, involves demolishing the East Wing. The donor list includes tech and crypto giants: Coinbase, Tether, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Palantir, Lockheed Martin. Sokolov, a Russian-born entrepreneur, is named alongside them.
According to the Sun-Times, Sokolov:
Founded IJS Investments in 2006, focusing on “infrastructure, technology and finance”
Is a shareholder in Viva Armenia (formerly MTS Armenia)
Serves as chairman of the Northern Pillar Energy Consortium (renewable energy between Africa and Europe)
Donated $100 million to the University of Chicago Booth, which renamed its Executive MBA Program in his honor
Previously donated $1.5 million to Booth’s Gleacher Center
Holds an MBA from Booth and a master’s from St. Petersburg State University
Moved to the U.S. in 1997 at age 21
Has homes in Miami, Switzerland, and Malta, and visits Chicago six times a year
The article notes that IJS Investments did not respond to requests for comment. Donation amounts are undisclosed, though one donor (Boxabl’s CEO) publicly stated a $10 million stock donation.
Here’s the list of individuals and companies helping to pay for the ballroom:
Altria Group
Amazon
Apple
Booz Allen Hamilton
Caterpillar
Coinbase
Comcast Corp.
J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
Hard Rock International
Google
HP
Lockheed Martin
Meta Platforms
Micron Technology
Microsoft
NextEra Energy
Palantir Technologies
Ripple
Reynolds American
T-Mobile
Tether America
Union Pacific Railroad
Adelson Family Foundation
Stefan E. Brodie
Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
Edward and Shari Glazer
Harold Hamm
Benjamin Leon Jr.
The Lutnick Family
The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Konstantin Sokolov
Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
Paolo Tiramani
Cameron Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss
Context for the archive: This Sun-Times article functions as a de facto PR vehicle for Sokolov. It lists his talking points — Armenian telecom stake, Booth donation, renewable energy initiative — without scrutiny. Notably absent: any mention of his $11 million in 2025 MAGA Inc. donations, his involvement with AMIO Bank, or the opaque nature of IJS Investments’ portfolio. The timing — as the White House ballroom project faces criticism from preservationists — suggests a mutually beneficial arrangement: a donor gets positive press, the administration gets a friendly story.
Source: Financial-World.org, “Gibraltar to build AI data center worth over 2 billion euros”
Gibraltar, strategically located near Spain and the Costa del Sol — a region densely populated by international and Russian entrepreneurs — has long been a haven for offshore capital and high-net-worth individuals.
Gibraltar is set to host a massive AI data centre valued at approximately €2.08 billion (£1.8 billion) — one of the largest investments in the British overseas territory’s history. The facility, planned for the city’s port, will operate on its own energy supply, independent of Gibraltar’s local grid. Construction will occur in five phases, with the first expected to be completed by 2027 and full operations by 2033. The project is projected to create up to 500 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions.
The data centre is managed by Pelagos Data Centres. The company’s president is Konstantin Sokolov.
Gibraltar, strategically located near Spain and the Costa del Sol — a region densely populated by international and Russian entrepreneurs — has long been a haven for offshore capital and high-net-worth individuals.
According to the announcement, the project will be financed entirely by private investment, with support from the Gibraltar government. The facility will use renewable energy sources supplemented by liquefied natural gas generators, with a goal of being fully powered by renewables by 2030. Waste heat will be repurposed for other local projects.
Konstantin Sokolov, president of Pelagos Data Centres, stated that the centre “opens a new chapter for Gibraltar and Europe’s digital opportunities” and will help position Gibraltar as a “strategic center of innovation.”
Joe Bossano, Gibraltar’s Minister of Economic Development, framed the project as a historic milestone: “Then we secured the future of Gibraltar, today we are doing it again.”
Context for the archive:Context for the archive: This article is a straight press release from Pelagos Data Centres — no independent verification, no questions asked. Sokolov appears as president of the company, presenting a multi-billion-euro vision with ambitious timelines (2027 first phase, 2030 renewable goal, 2033 full completion). Notably absent: any mention of secured financing. As previously documented in The Guardian’s coverage (December 2025), Sokolov was still seeking financing for this same project. This September 2025 announcement precedes that — and raises the question: what changed in three months, and where is the money coming from?
The shortage of information and clarity about the building of a new data centre in Gibraltar, which has just made a splash in the press, surpasses what is made public.
All investment is good for Gibraltar, but it must be assessed with full information and not just the spin that big numbers provide.
To date all we have is much public fanfare with few real numbers, and no questions asked by the press on that front yet. We have news by press release and statements.
Noise and environmental issues are also good reasons why siting these centres cause protests.
It is for the GSD Opposition to inquisitively investigate and make public the missing parts of the jigsaw. We look forward to that but if history is anything to go by, expectations are not high.
The ubiquity of Hassans Law Firm is shown by the presence of its two senior partners James Levy and Tony Provasoli in photographs with the investors, and with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, a partner in Hassans also but on sabbatical.
£1.8 BILLION?
We are told that the new centre will attract investment of “approximately £1.8 billion” between now and 2033, not that it is an investment of that amount by its promotor Pelagos Data Centres [Pelagos].
Christian JA Ryan, president of Gibraltar operations for Pelagos, confirms as much, saying, “Expected to attract approximately £1.8 billion in investment this project will enhance Gibraltar’s economy by creating jobs and supporting local businesses.”
Note the use of the word ‘expected’, which weakens the certainty with which the figure of £1.8 billion is being bandied about.
LITTLE INFORMATION ON PELAGOS
Pelagos is run by experienced businessperson and investor Konstantin Sokolov.
No information is contained in the local press about the financial standing and history of Pelagos.
We are told about Mr Sokolov that he donated $100 million to the University of Chicago to support an Executive MBA Program but see further below about him.
NO GREAT EMPLOYMENT INCREASE
Pelagos reveals that up to 500 jobs will be created in the construction of the centre.
It may be a number to boast about, but those jobs are temporary for a few years and will be spread out over the period of construction.
Pelagos projects that around 100 permanent full-time posts will result on completion.
It does not specify whether those will be in Gibraltar.
Currently it employs 50 full-time shared between London and Gibraltar. Only jobs created in Gibraltar will have some impact on the local employment economy and government tax and social security take.
It is not a vast number, so the contribution in PAYE and social security is not that significant.
FREE SITE?
We are told that the data centre will be built on a 20,000 square metre site in the vicinity of the port. The site is presently publicly owned.
There is no information on how much, if anything, has been paid by Pelagos for the site.
It seems also that the site has not been put out to public tender.
TAX ADVANTAGES?
Additionally, there is no information on whether Development Aid concessions have or will be granted to Pelagos.
Those would reduce tax and rates payments to the public purse for a lengthy period.
It will make up a public purse contribution to the investment that is to the benefit of Pelagos and will reduce the gains to the public purse for some years.
PROMOTE ACTIVITY
The project is expected to excite demand for local services, support growth in the digital and technology sectors and boost Gibraltar’s and the regions attraction for international investment.
Those expected increases are not quantified, but any such economic growth is to be welcomed.
GIBEXIT
It remains unknown whether the data centre project will or will not be affected if there is no Gibexit treaty between the UK and Spain to govern Gibraltar’s status within the EU.
The timing announced will coincide with any announcement about the finalisation of such a Gibexit treaty.
WHO IS KONSTANTIN SOKOLOV?
An internet search uncovers that Mr Sokolov “is an experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor with a track record of transforming critical infrastructure in the telecommunications, energy and financial services sector.”
“In addition to Konstantin’s role as founder of IJS Investments, he has led restructuring projects for sovereign wealth funds and central banks and has steered the listing of firms on all major stock exchanges.
Konstantin has established the Northern Pillar Energy Consortium, an initiative to connect Europe and Africa, providing clean, affordable energy and high-speed digital communications to meet the needs of tomorrow’s world. An expert in the energy sector, he was previously Managing Director for Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions at Centrica PLC.
As a major shareholder in Viva, the largest mobile and telecommunication company in Armenia, he has championed digital transformation, drawing on his previous expertise as Director of Enterprise Architecture at Qwest Communications (now Lumen Technologies). In that role, he helped to modernize United States Government telecommunications infrastructure and developed pioneering, next-generation solutions in telecommunications and financial services. He has also provided strategic counsel to governments and major companies.
A married father-of-two, he has a master’s degree in mathematics and computer science and an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.”
YEREVAN, August 7: /ARKA/. The Armenian government plans to sell its 20% stake in Viva Armenia for $50 million. At a government meeting on Thursday, the decision was made to grant permission to sign a put option agreement.
Armenia – Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (right) and Konstantin Sokolov (left) attend an event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Viva Armenia cellphone network, Yerevan, July 1, 2025.
According to the rationale for the decision, the government decree of February 29, 2024 states that the Republic of Armenia accepted 20% (110,000 shares) of MTS Armenia CJSC shares, valued at 1,000 drams each, as a gift from Fedilco Group Limited. A total of 550,000 shares have been issued.
The company has proposed concluding a put option agreement with the government. In accordance with the agreement, the company will have the right to buy back the donated shares in the future under the terms stipulated by the agreement, subject to certain conditions.
The option agreement establishes that, given that the company (buyer) and the RA Government (seller), represented by the Prime Minister’s Office, are the respective legal and beneficial owners of 80% and 20% of Viva Armenia CJSC shares, the buyer agrees to grant the seller an option to sell the option shares.
If the seller notifies the buyer of exercising the option, the buyer must pay the seller a total compensation amount of $50 million within 90 days of completing the transaction. This process will be carried out in accordance with the RA Law “On Privatization of State Property.”
About Viva
Viva (Viva Armenia CJSC, formerly VivaCell) received a license to operate in 2004. In September 2007, after selling 80% of its shares, Viva became a subsidiary of the Russian company Mobile TeleSystems (MTS). Following the co-branding initiative in 2008, the company’s logo was updated to “VivaCell-MTS.”
In January 2024, Viva announced a change in ownership and left the Russian MTS Group.
Fedilco Group Limited, a company registered in Cyprus, is the new shareholder of Viva Armenia CJSC. Zhe Zhang and Konstantin Sokolov are the ultimate beneficiaries of Fedilco Group Limited.
On February 29, 2024, the government of Armenia accepted a 20% stake in MTS Armenia CJSC as a gift from Fedilco Group Limited. Today, the company has a wide service network of 74 service centers in Yerevan and the regions where MobiDram branches also operate.
