TBC Bank wins Deal of the Year for snowmaking project

The head of TBC Bank is proud to receive a special award from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for his bank’s support of an artificial snowmaking project in Georgia’s Gudauri and Bakuriani winter resorts.

The Bank was awarded the Deal of the Year 2014 at today’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) Awards Ceremony, which was part of the EBRD’s 24thAnnual Meeting currently being held in Tbilisi.

The deal itself revolved around a €2.8 million letter of credit (LC) that supported the artificial snowmaking project. The project has since had a transformative impact on the two winter resorts. The deal was supported by Raiffeisen Bank and the EBRD and the new snowmaking equipment enabled the Georgian Mountain Resorts Development Company to offer successful ski seasons and Gudauri and Bakuriani, regardless of natural snow cover.

Gudauri and Bakuriani enjoyed the extended ski season this year thanks to artificial snowmakig project. Photo by Tamar Khurtsia/Agenda.ge

Why this deal is special?

TBC Bank Chief Executive Officer Vakhtang Butskhrikidze and Deputy CEO David Tsiklauri spoke to Agenda.ge about the winning transaction and what made this deal so special.

This is a big achievement for us and I am very honoured to take this award on behalf of TBC Bank. I think [the snowmaking project] was a very clever and smart idea and we, at TBC Bank, helped execute that idea,” said Butskhrikidze.

He noted the deal was beneficial for the country and for TBC Bank. "The country needs tourism to increase but when there is no snow this won’t happen, so this project will address that. It’s a win-win deal for TBC Bank, for the companies involved and for the country. Everybody will benefit from this deal.”

Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, CEO TBC Bank (left) and his Deputy David Tsiklauri (right) at the award ceremony. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Tsiklauri, the Bank’s Deputy CEO said: "This deal was very much the same as our other deals financially, but given that the priority of the Government was enhancing tourism infrastructure, they finally decided to go ahead with this project.”

"There was a long debate … but once the decision was made and details were finalised, it was executed very quickly, in a space of about four weeks,” said Tsiklauri.

Project benefits for Georgia

The project generated a positive response from the public, particularly ski enthusiasts. According to Trade & Forfaiting Review, tourism generated around $1.7 billion of Georgia’s revenues and 10 percent of its employment. When it did not snow during the 2013-14 winter season both winter resorts suffered heavy losses.

Number of visitors have increased by 40 percent in Gudauri and 20 percent in Bakuriani during the past ski season. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge 

Thanks to the introduction of artificial snow machines, ahead of  the 2014-15 winter season about 85 percent of hotels in Gudauri were reportedly booked through to the end of January 2015.

EBRD Managing Director of Financial Institutions Nick Tesseyman said TBC Bank was a worthy winner of the Deal of the Year 2014 award.

"In the trade finance business, some banks are really strong and know how to work with the EBRD, and since we’ve been working with [TBC Bank] for so long, it’s one of the banks that really have a lot of experience.

EBRD Managing Director of Financial Institutions Nick Tesseyman (right) congratulates Vakhtang Butskhrikidze CEO TBC Bank at the award ceremony. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge 

"[Developing the tourism sector] is important in this country. Tourism is one of the things Georgia can still do better and this will support the economy, so this deal ticked a lot of the boxes we were looking for.”

TBC Bank Group employed more than 4,000 employees in offices throughout Georgia.

Looking ahead, the TBC Bank CEO said his future vision for the Bank was bright.

"We are the leader in the Georgian market and we believe we will continue to be here and also grow our operations in the region. The banking sector is changing, not only here but worldwide and we have to compete on a global scale and I think we have a lot of initiatives in this direction. We are already doing a lot of things in this sense and I think in three to five years we will be one of the best institutions in the region,” said Butskhrikidze.