Monday, January 9 2012 21:56
Ameriabank enters Georgian market as an independent player
ArmInfo. Ameriabank (Armenia) will officially enter the Georgian banking market approximately in a month. Last year the bank was in the focus of attention of Georgian media, as it was going to acquire the assets of HSBC Bank Georgia, bizzone.info says.
The website says that according to Commersant Radio, the head of the Armenian bank qualified the Georgian market as uncompetitive due to the dominance of two banks. And today it turns out that Ameria intends to enter the market as an independent player. The radio company says that in February they will make an official statement on their entry into the Georgian market.
In Oct 2011 Director for Development of Ameriabank Tigran Jrbashyan said that Ameria Group was negotiating acquisition of one of the banks of Georgia. He said that on entering the banking market of Georgia, Ameriabank was going to start its activity from corporate banking.
"Taking into account the closeness of the Georgian and Armenian markets, as well as the ties and legislative peculiarities, we decided to enter the Georgian market not by opening a representation there, but by acquisition of a bank, and the relevant talks have been held for 2 years", Jrbashyan said.
He added that it was initially envisaged to announce the acquisition of the bank in September 2011, however, the transaction is delayed now, and the discussions still continue. "Given our customers' interest in the Georgian market, we think that we will manage to hold our place in the Georgian banking sector, even under our own brand. This issue is also being considered", he said.
In Jan 2006 Cascade Bank undertook a not very successful attempt to enter the Georgian market: Cascade Bank Georgia was sold to the Bank of Georgia in July 2007, while Cascade Bank itself was acquired by Ameriabank in mid June 2009.
The majority shareholder of Ameriabank is TDA Holdings Limited (99.99%) affiliated with Troika Dialog. On 25 September 2011 "Ameria Group" registered its representation in California - "Ameria Group Inc", which offers to all the potential investors and the persons interested in fulfillment of projects in Armenia, consultation and fully-fledged information about the investment and business environment in the republic and the tax and customs administrating.
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