Tag Archives: Georgia

Currencies: Kyrgyzstan’s som, Kazakhstan’s tenge

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz Central Bank intervened in the currency market, selling around $14m on Friday to halt the fall of the som. It still fell 3% over the week finishing at 72.1/$1.

In Kazakhstan, the tenge was stable at 307/$1, although it reached a record low of 312/$1 on Monday.

The Georgian lari was stable at 240/$1 throughout the week.

In Armenia and Uzbekistan, currencies fell faster than previously. The Armenian dram lost 1% to 480.9/$1 and the Uzbek sum fell by 0.5% to just above 2,700/$1 on the official market. On the Black Market, the US dollar is reportedly selling at 6,200sum.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Georgian lawyer says police beat him

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Georgian lawyer accused police of beating him for several hours after he visited a client at a Tbilisi police station, sparking outrage across Georgia’s social media and jibes of hypocrisy against the authorities.

Police brutality is a sensitive political issue in Georgia. The ruling Georgian Dream coalition has accused the previous administration of Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement of presiding over a regime built around repression and fear.

Giorgi Mdinaradze, the lawyer, said that he had been to hospital with bruises and cuts to his face after the beating.

“They [policemen] put my hands in cuffs and I could not even cover face with hands as they were beating me for five or ten minutes,” media quoted him as saying.

Mr Mdinaradze works for Legal Aid, a government funded group that gives legal advice and support to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it.

One of the ruling Georgian Dream’s main challenges against the United National Movement party was a case against former defence minister Bacho Akhalaia. He was sent to prison last year for ordering inmates at a prison to be tortured in 2006 when he was the prisons minister.

Police said that they have opened an investigation into the alleged beating of Mr Mdinaradze, the lawyer. On Nov. 13, Georgian media reported that they had arrested a senior policeman in the case.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Aliyev visits Georgia

NOV. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev flew to Tbilisi for a meeting with Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili. Officially, the clearly good-natured meeting only yielded promises of a deeper relationship but energy links were likely to have been discussed. Georgia is an important transit country for Azerbaijani gas en route to Turkey and Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Georgia tweaks budget to boost health

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government wants to tweak the national budget for a second time this year to increase funding for one of its key policies — creating an improved universal health care system.

Finance minister Nodar Khaduri said that increased revenue from tax and a reduction in the regional aid budget would pay for the increase in health care spending.

Earlier this year, the ruling Georgian Dream government submitted a budget which included a drop in revenue raised by taxes, a fall it linked to a regional economic downturn. That thinking has now changed.

The universal healthcare that the Georgian government wants to build is one of their headline policies. It will now absorb around 16% of the health ministry’s total budget.

“It is a successful program and many people apply to use it,” media quoted Mr Khaduri as saying. “So it became necessary to add funds to this program.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Henkel constructs first factory in Georgia

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — German industrial company Henkel started construction work at its first factory in Georgia. The new €6m ($6.5m) plant will open in 2016 and produce adhesive materials, one of Henkel’s core businesses. In the medium-term, Henkel plans to export its production to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Georgia bottled water company builds new factory

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Healthy Water, the Georgian-Swiss company that produces the Nabeghavi brand of mineral water, will build a new factory in the western Guria region to expand its product line and increase its share of Georgia’s valuable bottled water market.

The new €30m ($32m) plant will open in 2016 near Batumi in western Georgia and add six bottling lines to the company’s production chain.

Healthy Water also plans to start producing lemonade, fruit juices and iced-tea. Funding for the new factory comes from a number of backers, including the EBRD.

As well as producing the upmarket Nabeghlavi brand, with its iconic green glass bottles and branding, Healthy Water also produces bottled water under the Bakhmaro brand. In 2014, it was the second-largest bottled water company in Georgia behind Borjomi, the most famous Georgian bottled water company.

Borjomi, with its slightly salty taste, dominates the Georgian bottled water market with 41% of the market.

Healthy Water has a 36% market share, split between its brands.

Healthy Water’s real aimmaybe the lucrative export market. It already exports its Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro brands to North America, eight European Union countries, China, Russia and Turkey.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Ukraine supports Georgia over SOssetia

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a show of support for Georgia, Ukraine said it will fine anybody driving a car with a South Ossetian or Abkhazian number plate, media reported. Ukraine is locked in a war with Russia for control of the eastern part of its country. It counts Georgia as a strong ally. S.Ossetia and Abkhazia are Russia- backed Georgian rebel states.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Georgia Healthcare Group completes London IPO

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In what is likely to be the only IPO on an international market by a company from Central Asia and the South Caucasus this year, Bank of Georgia completed the listing of its subsidiary Georgia Healthcare Group on the London Stock Exchange.

It sold a 29% stake in Georgia Healthcare Group, raising around £63m ($96m) to invest into two hospitals it has bought in the past couple of years in Tbilisi.

Georgia Healthcare Group is the largest private healthcare provider in Georgia, owning 42 hospitals and medical centres.

Although the IPO came in below the initial price range, Nikoloz Gamkrelidze, Georgia Healthcare Group’s CEO, was upbeat.

“A public listing enhances our ability to take advantage of the significant market growth prospects of the Georgian healthcare sector,” he said. “The primary proceeds will be used to fund our immediate growth plans, aimed at helping us achieve at least a doubling of our 2015 revenue by 2018.”

Reports earlier this year also suggested new legislation introduced by the Georgian government had forced Bank of Georgia to sell a large stake in its healthcare unit.

Georgia Healthcare Group had targeted a price range of 215-315p but instead had to settled for 170p, perhaps a reflection of the poor economic conditions in Emerging Markets in general and in the South Caucasus in particular. Since announcing the IPO in August, Bank of Georgia shares have lost 13% on the London Stock Exchange, possibly setting its healthcare unit up for its lower-than-hoped-for IPO pricing.

Even so, the Georgia Healthcare Group IPO, gave Western investors a rare chance to buy into the former Soviet Union. Over the past couple of years, London IPO plans from Kazakh companies in particular, have been shelved as an economic downturn triggered by low oil prices, worries about Emerging Markets and a recession in Russia bite.

Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have announced they want to carve up some of their main state-owned companies and that they will look for IPOs on major international stock markets but these sales are a long way off.

Georgia Healthcare Group joins its parent company Bank of Georgia as the only two Georgian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Stock market: GHG, Nostrum, KAZ Minerals

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — As the Bulletin reports on its front page, Georgia Healthcare Group (GHG) listed on the London Stock Exchange with an initial share price of 170p on Nov. 9. The company listed 29% of its shares, valuing the company around £218m ($331m). By Friday its shares had dropped to 181p.

Oil and commodities companies lost ground on the London stock market after Brent and copper prices fell by 6% and 4.5% this week.

Linked to this fall in the price of Brent crude futures, Kazakhstan-focused Nostrum Oil & Gas shares were down 16% closing at 367.5p. Nostrum recorded an 8% fall on Thursday, placing its shares among the worst performers on the FTSE 250.

Cooper producer KAZ Minerals, formerly known as Kazakhmys, faired worse. Its shares fell by 20% over the week, closing at 80p.

Tethys Petroleum shares jumped by 53% on Monday following Olisol’s letter of intent to acquire its stakes, but finished the week down to 4.25p.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

China launches another air-link with Georgia

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China’s Southern Airlines launched a new route to Tbilisi from Urumchi in eastern China. The new route highlights China’s increased interest in Georgia and the South Caucasus. China has been boosting investments across the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)