Bank of Georgia Group completes purchase of Armenia's Ameriabank

YEREVAN. April 8 (Interfax) - Armenia's Ameriabank has announced the completion of the transaction for its purchase by the Bank of Georgia Group and a change of shareholders.

The Armenian bank says on its website that its new shareholders are Bank of Georgia Group PLC (60%) and Bank of Georgia JSC (30%). The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's stake fell to 10%.

It was reported earlier that Bank of Georgia Group PLC had reached an agreement to purchase Ameriabank for $303.6 million.

. The shareholders of the bank were Imast Group (CY) Limited with 48.82%, the EBRD with 17.71%, Asian Development Bank with 13.91% and ESPS Holding Limited with 12.05%. Media reports said that one of the main beneficiaries of Ameriabank was businessman and ex-prime minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Ruben Vardanyan, who was detained by Azerbaijani authorities in September of last year. Vardanyan is also a co-founder of Troika Dialog, one of the first Russian investment brokerage companies.

Bank of Georgia Group PLC (formerly BGEO Group) owns 99.56% of the shares of Bank of Georgia.

Ameriabank has been operating in the Armenian market since October 1996 and is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and retail banking services.