TBC Bank praised for “top deal of 2014” by financial magazine

Prestigious financial magazine Trade and Forfaiting Review has named one of TBC Bank's transactions as "the best deal of 2014" in the world.

The news was released by TBC Bank.

The bank’s winning transaction was a Letter of Credit issued for the import of artificial snowmaking equipment that would help boost the country’s winter season and help develop tourism.

TBC said the new equipment would enable the Georgian Mountain Resorts Development Company to offer successful ski seasons at popular Georgian winter destinations Gudauri and Bakuriani regardless of natural snow cover.

We are proud of this recognition that we gained in the direction of trade financing and corporate banking. We are glad that this way we contribute to tourism development at the winter resorts,” said TBC Bank Director Vakhtang Butskhrikidze.

The best deal of 2014 involved a €2.28 million (5.27 million GEL) confirmed letter of credit for Georgia's snowmaking project, which TBC Bank handled with help from Raiffeisen Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

"Tourism generates around $1.7 billion USD of Georgian revenues and provides ten percent of its employment. When it did not snow during the 2013-14 season its two main ski resorts of Gudauri and Bakuriani suffered heavy losses, threatening more losses for the Eastern European state's economy,” stated the magazine.

"This was a deal that captured the imagination of ski lovers on the judging panel but it also demonstrated how a letter of credit supporting an artificial snowmaking project could have such a transforming impact.”

After a four-month construction period where the artificial snow machines were established on site, the 2014-15 ski season opened on December 20, 2014 with a generous cover of artificial snow. By then 85 percent of all hotels in Gudauri were booked until the end of January 2015.

"Conversely, blizzards earlier that month had created a different sort of problem for tourists but were it not for the snowmaking equipment, the hotels would have had more to worry about than how to get bread through the drifts to their guests,” stated the magazine.

Head of the Georgian Mountain Resorts Development Company Alexandre Onoprishvili said: "The artificial snowmaking project is at the core of the state tourism development strategy and aims to enhance Georgia's ability to offer year-round recreation opportunities and host sporting events.”

On behalf of trade financing, each year 15 best transactions around the globe are selected by the magazine. Other 2014 winners of the magazine's annual Deals of the Year Awards included transactions by HSBC, RBS, Deutsche Bank, IFC, Citi, ING, Societe Generale, ABN AMRO, and BNP Paribas.