The European Union has sold the Tbilisi-based Agro-Business Bank of Georgia (ABG) to a group of investors, known as Salford, for 7.4 million Lari, Torben Holtze, the Head of the European Commission Delegation to Georgia said at a news conference on March 23.
The ABG was established in 1999 as a EU-sponsored project and represented successor to the EU-funded Regional Agricultural Reform Project.
The amount of the deal – 7.4 million Lari (approximately USD 4 million) ? will be transferred to the Georgian budget.
At present, the total assets of the Bank amount to Gel 10.5 million. Since its creation, ABG has granted more that 12,000 loans totaling over 50 million Lari, 80% of which was given to the agricultural sector, according to the European Commission Delegation.
The Georgian daily Rezonansi has recently speculated that Tbilisi-based influential tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili might be behind the Salford investment group.
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