Government of Armenia proposes amending state property privatization
program to sale state share in Ameriabank

2008-10-03 14:26:00

ArmInfo. Government of Armenia proposes amending the state property
privatization program for 2006-2007 to sale the state share in
Ameriabank (former Armimpexbank), Karine Kirakosyan, Head of the State
Property Department said in the parliament Thursday.

She said it is the only bank of Armenia at present with state share.
The state holds just 2.35% stake in the bank and cannot influence the
activity of the bank. Thus, it is quite reasonable to sell the stake.
Amendments to the given law are expected in three weeks at the next
4-day session.

Ameribank told ArmInfo the state stake in the bank was 2.35% in Feb
2008. The bank issued equity twice in the current year and the share of
the majority shareholder, TDA Holdings Limited, reached 99.6%. The
first issue totaled 4.4 billion drams, the second – 10.6 billion drams,
which allowed the bank to raise the authorized capital from the initial
2 billion drams to 17 billion drams. Due to it, the bank became the
leader in the banking system of Armenia. The capital base rose to 18.6
billion drams ($62 million) after the second issue and the bank rose
from the top ten banks to the top five leaders. The third issue of
equity for 1.2 billion drams is scheduled for October 2008. Due to it,
the authorized capital will be raised to 18.2 billion drams. The
capital base will be increased also due to the envisaged profit. Thus,
the bank will overfulfill the strategic development plan for 2008 and
stay among leaders in the banking sector of Armenia. In future, the
bank will raise capital at the expense of profit for it envisages over
$5 million profit in 2009.