( Fincannel )- New Director of Standard Bank appointed on March 6 by Abu Dhabi Group, new owner of Georgian Bank, developed by Salford Capital, investment company associated with Boris Berezovski and Badri patarkatsihvili .
Announcement on purchase of Standard Bank by Abu Dhabi Group was announced on March 6, 2008. Bank PR department said new CEO of Standard Bank will be introduced to Georgian media on March 7. But the meeting with Media was postponed later.
Minister of Higher education and Science of United Arab Emirates His Highness Nayan Bin Mubarak Al Nayan visited Tbilisi in February. His Highness was invited by the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili .
His Higness is a founder and the chairman of management board of Abu Dhabi Group, one of the largest investment groups in the Middle East. Mr. Bashir . A.Tahir , CEO of Dhabi group is also a member of the visiting delegation from Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi Group has already invested in two sectors and has up two projects in Georgia: One of them is JSC KOR Bank, Georgia which has received the operations license from National Bank Of Georgia.
"The first branch of JSC KOR bank should be operational in 6 months. 10 million dollars have been paid as a capital requirement for this banking license", group representative said.
"Another sphere of investment is in Telecommunications market under the company name
Warid Telecom Georgia Ltd . More than 80 million dollars is expected to be invested in this sector till the end of 2008 . License for Wi Max frequency was purchased 3 months ago for more than 10 million dollars. According to the plans of Dhabi Group Georgia, Warid Telecom, Georgia wireless internet and enhanced telephony services will cover the whole territory of Georgia by the end of current year, 2008.
"Another activity of the company will be hotel construction business. The representatives of the group are currently searching for a suitable place in Tbilisi central citz for the construction of a five star hotel. The budget of the project is intended to be over two hundred million dollars and will be spent during three years.
The activities of the Dhabi Group would not be limited to the sectors mentioned above , therefore the search for potentially viable projects will continue.
Dhabi Group has been investing for 40 years in The Middle East Region and the countries of Asia and Africa. The group currently owns interests in several banks, insurance companies and telecommunications business.
"The value of the whole portfolio of the group is above 10 billion dollars. Except investing in Georgian market, Abu Dhabi Group is seeking the possibility for investing in Ukrainian and Azerbaijan markets", company said.
Arab Dhabi Group is expected to join the local mobile communications market. Last week the group announced about making an investment in the Telecommunications mar- ket under the company name Warid Telecom Georgia Ltd. More than USD 80 million is expected to be invested in this sector until the end of 2008. A license for Wi Max fre-quency was purchased 3 months ago for more than USD 10 million. According to the plans of Dhabi Group Georgia, Warid Telecom, Georgia wireless internet and en- hanced telephony services will cover the whole territory of Georgia by the end of the current year, 2008. The company is not excluding the possibility of expanding to the mo-bile communications market.
On November 24, 2007, National Bank of Georgia Supervisory Commission made the decision to appoint temporary administration at Standard Bank.
According to the statement disseminated by NBG, the reason for the appointment of temporary administration at Standard Bank was connected to the official liquidation of the bank. The bank was conditioned to face the problem as a result of intensified deposits loss since the beginning of the current month. Under the instructions of NBG, Giorgi Kadagidze , Head of the Financial Monitoring Service, was appointed head of the temporary administration.
Though Salford Georgia considered that the actions carried out by NBG were illegal, violating both national and international legal norms. The company stated that the developments had a political background as the acting President of NBG stated in meetings that the bank was targeted because Mr Patarkatsishvili was believed to be a shareholder (which he is not, the Salford director being the sole shareholder of the bank's parent company, although Mr Patarkatsishvili does hold an indirect interest).
"Standard Bank appeared to be strong enough to resist the problems and even since 25% of the bank's deposits were turned into cash, Standard Bank had no liquidity problems at the time NBG officials entered the bank," stated Irakli Rukhadze , Chief executive of Salford Georgia.
Salford Georgia reported that since November 7, illegal attacks have been continuing on Salford Georgia owned companies which started with the Mtatsminda Park and Imedi TV raids followed by Borjomi and Telenet cases. Members of the government embarked on a systematic campaign to target the assets in Georgia of Mr Badri Patarkatsishvili , a businessman who expressed opposition to the current Administration. Part of that campaign focused on Standard Bank.
Salford Georgia was an umbrella management company for the tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili 's interests and assets in Georgia. Patarkatsishvili , 52, who died in London in February, was a candidate for Presidency in the January 5 elections.
Earlier Patarkatsishvili told the Sunday Times: "I have 120 bodyguards but I know that's not enough. I don't feel safe anywhere and that is why I'm particularly not going to Georgia."
Patarkatsishvili had severe heart disease and could have died at any time, according to a doctor's report presented on February 15 at the opening of the inquest into his death.