Agreement on purchasing 75% of Tao Bank by Ukrainian PrivateBank has been signed in Tbilisi today.
Vladimir Ugulava, chairman of supervision board of Georgian bank, said at news conference that the deal will be made through new emission, which Ukrainian bank has been purchased for $25 million. New emission will amount to 360,000 ordinary shares. Tao Bank has emitted 120,000 ordinary shares to today.
As Aleksandr Dubilet, PrivateBanks chairman of board, declared, entrance on Georgian banking market was conditioned by dynamic of its development. He explained the decision on selecting Tao Bank by partnership with management of the Georgian bank.
Tao Bank is among the second ten of Georgian banks in terms of total assets and liabilities. At that, the figures were reduced from the beginning of the year. Total assets have reduced by 65.4% and makes up 26.3 million lari, total liabilities – by 80% (11.9 million lari). Tao Bank has fixed loss in 1st quarter in amount of 74,163 lari. Net profit of 2006 made up 1.2 million lari.
Tao Bank explains the loss by carried out investments and significant expenses on marketing. As for the assets and liabilities, the decreasing was due to transfers, made by the clients from their accounts, the bank says and assumes that cash inflow is expected in the 2nd quarter.
Tao Bank serves up to 100,000 private individuals and 10,000 legal entities. Its credit portfolio makes up 25 million lari. The bank has 8 branches (out of which 4 are in Tbilisi) and 15 ATMs (8 are in Tbilisi). Bank has issued 10,000 plastic cards.
Tao Bank holds a license since 1992. Until 2005 it was named Kavkasioni, than – First Commercial Bank, from June 2006 it has been renamed into Tao Bank.
Among large shareholders of the bank are Unirange Holdings (24%), Balian Industry (23%), Suntrix Intertrade (22.6%), Harmelly Trade (12.4%), Coca-Cola Bottlers Georgia (4.13% this company belongs to Georgian businessman Temur Chkonia), private individuals – Eduard Gvaramadze (7.5%), Ilia Kokaia (4.4%), Koba Tsakadze (1.1%).
As for the PrivateBank, it is leading bank in Ukraine in terms of total assets ($8 billion, April 1, 2007), capital and credit portfolio size. Banks deposits amount to $3 billion. 20% of Ukrainian retail banking service and 25% of ATM network in Ukraine accounts for it.
