The Armenian government offered $380,000 to the owners of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) — the family of Samvel Karapetyan — in an effort to acquire the company, former acting director general David Ghazinyan has confirmed.

The Strong Armenia party member said during a press conference today that the relevant document had already appeared in the possession of several media outlets, Sputnik Armenia reported.

“This is yet another example of the state’s attitude toward private business. Samvel Karapetyan has absolutely no problem defending his property, but seeing the condition the country is in and where it is heading, I do not think it is appropriate to discuss negotiations over the sale of ENA at this moment,” Ghazinyan said.

Asked whether the family intended to accept the offer, Ghazinyan gave a clear answer: no.

“What reasonable or logical person could accept that?” he said.

Earlier, media outlets reported that the government had offered the Karapetyan family about 23.3 billion drams, or $62.3 million, on the condition that Karapetyan return the dividends received from the company over the past ten years, totaling 23.158 billion drams. In effect, if the owner were to return those dividends to the company, the government’s offer for ENA shares would amount to 142 million drams, or roughly $380,000.

On July 3, 2025, Armenia’s National Assembly approved in a second and final reading amendments to the laws “On the Public Services Regulatory Commission” and “On Energy” by a vote of 65 to 27, with no abstentions. The package is widely referred to as the ENA nationalization bill.

Earlier, on June 18, hours before the arrest of businessman and ENA owner Samvel Karapetyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the time had come for Electric Networks of Armenia to be nationalized. Pashinyan also threatened to dismiss ENA employees unwilling to cooperate with the state. On June 24, he announced that the nationalization plan was ready.

Karapetyan acquired the company in 2016 at the request of the previous government and invested hundreds of millions of dollars into modernization.