Page 36 - GEORptAug18

8.5 Fixed income
8.5.1 Fixed income - bond news
Microfinance institution Crystal’s bonds admitted to Georgian Stock Exchange
Kutaisi-based microfinance organisation JSC MFO Crystal’s GEL10mn (€3.5mn) two-year bonds were admitted to the Georgian Stock Exchange on May 17.
Crystal made its debut bond issue in December 2017, which was the first local currency bond offering in Georgia’s microfinance sector. The firm said at the time of the issue that it planned to list the bonds on the local exchange.
The bonds, which mature on December 28, 2019, have been admitted to the exchange’s category B listing under the ticker #CRS01J , the Georgian Stock Exchange a nnounced .
Crystal’s main focus is on micro entrepreneurs and farmers living and working in regions and remote areas, with just under 29% of its portfolio extended to borrowers outside urban areas as of 2017. It has 50 regional branches across eight Georgian regions. As of 2017 its loan portfolio amounted to around GEL150mn.
It offers a range of financial services to micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), loans to the agricultural sector, housing and consumption loans, as well as currency exchange services, remittance handling and other financial services such as utility payments.
9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will on June 12 inaugurate the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, Ankara said on June 10. The TANAP opening ceremony will be held in Eskisehir, central Turkey, under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with the presence of Azerbaijan’s Ihham Aliyev and Georgia’s Margvelashvili. The pipeline is a component of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) which is to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz-2 gas field in the Caspian Sea and nearby fields to Turkey and southern Europe. SCG will rival Russia’s TurkStream pipeline which will deliver gas to Turkey and Bulgaria via a Black Sea route and, if plans are realised, feed gas into the wider southern European gas network.
TANAP, built at a cost of $8.5bn, is to deliver 6bn cubic metres of gas to Turkey and 10bn cm to Europe annually. The European leg of the SCG is expected to become operational in 2020.
TANAP, running from the eastern province of Ardahan in Turkey on the border with Georgia to points on the borders with Greece and Bulgaria, is the central and longest section of the SGC. Gas will be fed into it from the Azerbaijan-to-Georgia-to-Turkey South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) . Gas from
36 GEORGIA Country Report August 2018
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