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EBRD takes $3m equity in Georgian brewery
Lomisi will use investment to upgrade its facilities and grow its market share
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is taking a $3 million
equity investment in Lomisi Ltd, the second largest beer producer in Georgia.
The investment will fund permanent working capital, improvements in production
and distribution systems, and marketing development investments at the
company’s recently completed brewery in Natakhtari. Lomisi’s objective is to
raise its share of the Georgian beer market following the opening of the new
Natakhtari plant in September 2005, said General Director Iago Chocheli.
Lomisi, founded in 1991 in Akhalgori, central Georgia, initially produced just
100 bottles a day. In 2004, after the launch of Chekhuri (“Czech-style”) brand
proved successful, the owners commissioned the second plant, for which the
EBRD provided a $7 million long-term loan jointly with Georgia’s TBC Bank
under the terms of their Medium-sized Co-financing Facility.
Georgia, traditionally a wine-drinking country, has seen the popularity of
beer grow sharply since independence. The market is largely dominated by local
producers with only 15 per cent imported in 2004.
Beers produced at the new plant will stimulate competition in the sector by
offering beer made in a modern, efficient plant with high quality raw
materials, said Hans Christian Jacobsen, Director of Agribusiness at the EBRD.
The new plant will secure direct employment for up to 300 people.
To date the EBRD has committed around €4 billion in more than 250 projects to
assist the agribusiness sector in central and eastern Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
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