The FINANCIAL — Recent affairs in Georgia might affect the Georgian Business and Investment summit in Tbilisi planned months ago. The summit should be held in October, but as Claudio Cassuto, Director of Euroconvention, told The FINANCIAL, they are reflecting on a possible change of date for the planned event which was at a very advanced stage.
“So far we have not altered the date, but are in discussions to have it reconsidered for mid-November which should suit all parties and change the focus more to reconstruction and infrastructure funding as well as donors and the possible impact of Czech EU Presidency to increase focus on Georgia,” stated Cassuto.
The slogan of the conference was Invest in Georgia 2008
Georgia preserved high investor confidence in the first quarter of 2008, reported Euroconvention before the Russian-Georgian war.
“I wish to congratulate all Georgian companies and their foreign investors and partners that have been active in the first quarter of 2008. We are pleased to observe this high level of investor interest and transactional activity, which demonstrates that international investors and lenders are well aware of the attractive opportunities Georgia has to offer,” stated Lado Gurgenidze, Prime Minister of Georgia earlier.
Several scaled developments have taken place over the analyzed period. On January 10, Bank of Georgia, the largest universal bank in the country, announced that it had successfully placed a USD 65 million senior loan facility through Merrill Lynch. In addition, in February, Bank of Georgia announced that it had raised USD 100 million through a rights issue of GDRs, with ING Bank acting as the sole book-runner and UniCredit and Galt & Taggart Securities (GTS) participating in the syndicate.
According to Euroconvention, several other Georgian banks have raised debt in the first quarter of this year, including a USD 10 million subordinated loan placed by TBC Bank, while in March the bank also announced the signing of a USD 30 million Multisource Framework Agreement with French giant BNP Paribas.
In the period under review, several new banking licenses were issued, with Halyk Bank, a group of European and Georgian investors and Dhabi Group each obtaining a banking license. In March this year, Dhabi Group announced that Kor Bank, its wholly-owned newly-established Georgian bank, acquired a 100% equity interest in Standard Bank, a top 10 Georgian bank, for the consideration of GEL 70 million, says Euroconvention.
In January 2008, the Georgian Reconstruction and Development Company (GRDC), a leading real estate developer in the country, announced that it had successfully closed a USD 105 million equity private placement with several institutional investors. Simultaneously, in February of this year, Caucasus Energy & Infrastructure, the permanent capital vehicle investing in energy and infrastructure assets, announced that it had placed USD 50 million of new equity and was admitted to trading on the Georgian Stock Exchange.
Among other significant announcements made in the first quarter of 2008, is the purchase of the Batumi oil terminal assets and long-term lease of the Batumi port assets by KazMunaiGas, acquisition of a 100% equity interest in Natakhtari Brewery, the largest brewery in Georgia by EFES breweries International acquired, raising of GEL 5 million by Populi, the leading supermarket chain, via a rights issue fully subscribed to by its institutional shareholders.
Privatisation has seen some large deals concluded as well. The total committed proceeds exceeding USD 200 million were completed or announced in the period under review, those including sale of Arsenal real estate property near downtown Tbilisi for USD 38 million; sale of a landmark office building in Tbilisi for 9 million; sale of the Skhmeri manganese deposit mining license for GEL 16 Million; sale of JSC Sakhydromsheni, an engineering and construction company, for USD 7 million; closing of the sale of a landmark building in downtown Tbilisi, which is being developed as a Kempinski hotel, with the last payment tranche of USD 18 million; and signing of the sale for USD 167 million of a 353Ha land plot adjacent to the Lisi Lake in Tbilisi. At the same time, small-scale privatization auction proceeds in the first quarter of 2008 stood at USD 36 million.
(Source: Invest Today, April 2008 issue – A publication of the Georgian National Investment Agency)
Written by Lika Xarebashvili.
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