Acquisition
Bank of Georgia
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Tbilisi, 27 July 2007
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JSC Bank Of Georgia Announces Major New Wealth Management Initiatives
JSC Bank of Georgia (LSE:BGEO, GSE:GEB), the leading Georgian universal bank,
announced today its intention to further develop its wealth management business,
with a view to further consolidate its market-leading position in Georgia and
enhance its appeal to non-resident clients.
Hitherto a business unit within Bank of Georgia, the existing wealth management
business, comprising over 1,000 domestic and non-resident clients, will be
gradually moved to a separate entity with a Georgian banking license,
wholly-owned by Bank of Georgia. To this end, the bank has recently acquired, at
the Price/Book Value ratio of 1.1x, a 100% equity interest in JSC Cascade Bank -
Georgia, one of the smallest banks in Georgia with total assets and
shareholders' equity totalling GEL 12.7 million and GEL 10.4 million,
respectively, as at 30 June 2007. Bank of Georgia intends to change its name to
Galt & Taggart Bank, in order to achieve consistent branding of its investment
banking, asset management and wealth management businesses. The rebranding is
expected to take place in October, concurrently with a redesign of the core
domestic private banking offering, following which the majority of current
private banking clients will be offered to upgrade to Galt & Taggart Bank. It is
intended that Galt & Taggart Bank and Bank of Georgia operate in a highly
synergistic manner, with Galt & Taggart Bank benefiting from full access to
corporate, back office and branch network resources of Bank of Georgia. Zurab
Maisuradze, current head of the wealth management business unit, will be
appointed Chief Executive Officer of Galt & Taggart Bank.
In a move to significantly enhance its appeal to non-resident clients, Bank of
Georgia announced today the appointment of Deborah Fairlamb as group head of
wealth management. Ms Fairlamb's role will entail supervising and coordinating
domestic wealth management business in Georgia and any other market in the
region Bank of Georgia may enter, establishing relationships with selected
providers in Europe to secure access to their products for distribution by Galt
& Taggart Bank, and working closely with Bank of Georgia's asset management
business to design and launch structured products of interest to the wealth
management client base. In addition, Ms Fairlamb will spearhead business
development efforts in order to expand the group's wealth management offering on
a regional basis, including screening for selected investments in specialist
providers outside Georgia.
Deborah Fairlamb brings ten years of experience in building and managing wealth
management products and services for high net worth individuals. Ms. Fairlamb
spent the last seven years with UBS, where she held a range of positions
developing and marketing UBS's high net worth client platform in the United
States. In 2000 - 2003 she served as Manager of Preferred Client Services, the
high net worth client loyalty program of UBS Wealth Management U.S., developing
programs and services to enhance the relationship between affluent individuals
and the firm. In 2004 she assumed the role of Director of High Net Worth
Marketing and was responsible for marketing the firm's high net worth products
and services in the United States. In 2005 she took on the role of Manager in
the Sales Development Business Practices group, where she launched an on-going
program to increase the effectiveness of the firm's financial advisors through a
better understanding of their clients' wealth management needs. Ms Fairlamb
started her career in financial services in 1997 with Merrill Lynch in their
International Private Client Group, where she managed a global strategic
initiative to expand the firm's international high net worth client base.
'I am truly excited about the opportunity to build on our pioneering success in
wealth management in the Georgian market, and look forward to working closely
with Ms Fairlamb to transform over time Galt & Taggart Bank into a wealth
management platform addressing the needs of affluent and high net worth
individuals in the region. There are early indications that the Galt & Taggart
brand travels well, and we intend to continue to invest in the brand and realise
synergies arising from the tight integration of investment banking, asset
management and wealth management', commented Lado Gurgenidze, Chairman of
Supervisory Board of Bank of Georgia.
About Bank of Georgia
Bank of Georgia, a leading universal Georgian bank with operations in Georgia
and Ukraine, is the largest bank by assets, loans, deposits and equity in
Georgia, with 32% market share by total assets (all data according to the NBG as
of 30 June 2007). The major component of the Galt & Taggart Index, the bank has
104 branches and over 500,000 retail and more than 50,000 corporate current
accounts. The bank offers a full range of retail banking and corporate and
investment banking services to its customers across Georgia. The bank also
provides a wide range of corporate and retail insurance products through its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Aldagi BCI, as well as asset & wealth management
services.
Bank of Georgia has, as of the date hereof, the following credit ratings:
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Standard & 'B+/B' Stable
Poor's
Moody's 'B3/NP' (FC) & 'Ba1/P-3' Stable
(LC)
Fitch Ratings 'B+/B' Stable
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For further information, please visit www.bog.ge/ir or contact:
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Lado Gurgenidze Irakli Gilauri Macca Ekizashvili
Chairman of the Supervisory Board Chief Executive Officer Head of Investor
Relations
+995 32 444 103 +995 32 444 109 +995 32 444 256
lgurgenidze@bog.ge igilauri@bog.ge ir@bog.ge
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This news report is presented for general informational purposes only and should
not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any
securities. Certain statements in this news report are forward-looking
statements and, as such, are based on the management's current expectations and
are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances.