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the benefit of young labour market entrants.
In particular, EVEX is focused on the development of textbooks for nurses, improving learning outcomes and strengthening entry-level skills for young people; outreach to male nurses, addressing equal opportunities in a ‘pink-collar’ occupation to broaden the labour supply; and policy dialogue on skills standards, reducing skills mismatches to ensure that young trainee nurses and midwives gain the best possible start in their careers and for their future livelihoods.
The EBRD ​announced last November​ that it had invested GEL12.5mn ($4mn) in an EVEX hospitals bond subscription.
The total size of the bond issuance was GEL50mn ($17mn) and the proceeds were to be used to refinance existing debt.
It was EBRD’s fourth transaction involving EVEX since 2016, when the EBRD provided a financing facility for the renovation and refurbishment of a hospital in Tbilisi.
EVEX Hospitals last November issued five-year unsecured bonds on the domestic market at a yield that was 310bp over the National Bank of Georgia monetary policy rate. With the policy rate at 8.5%, this gave the bond a current yield of 11.6%.
The EBRD came in as a cornerstone investor.
9.2.3 ​TMT corporate news
Diversified Azerbaijani group Neqsol Holding controlled by businessman Nasib Hasanov has entered the Georgian telecommunications market by purchasing a 49% stake in Georgia’s largest internet service provider focused on the wholesale segment, Caucasus Online, Business Media reported​.
Neqsol Holding founder Hasanov has become the specific owner of the Caucasus Online shares, according to ​a document​ published on the website of the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC).
Before the change of ownership, Khvicha Makatsaria, a Georgian businessman, owned 100% of Caucasus Online. Currently, his share is 51%. Caucasus Online’s main asset is Georgia’s main channel for access to the internet.
In addition to being for a long time the largest ISP in Georgia, Caucasus Online has owned since 2008 a 1,200-km submarine fibre-optic cable laid across the bottom of the Black Sea between Georgia and Bulgaria to provide a direct, high-quality fibre-optic internet connection from Europe to Caucasus Region and the Middle East. In September 2016, Caucasus Online sold its retail business to Magticom and it is now a major wholesale operator in the region.
Caucasus Online was formed by the unification of several major Georgian ISPs in 2006 and in 2008 it merged with Telenet, the main provider of wireless and fibre-optic internet in Georgia.
According to the audit report of Caucasus Online in 2018, the company's assets amounted to Georgian lari (GEL) 150mn ($55mn). In the same year, the company's operating earnings were GEL50mn and its operating profit was GEL6.3mn.
The Georgian company was fined for not announcing the change in its ownership structure.
In the past few months, the GNCC has been handling a case against Caucasus Online, which has been linked to the company's failure to notify the change in ownership, Business Media said. According to the legislation, the
53​ GEORGIA Country Report ​July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com