Tag Archives: Armenia

Armenia asks for gas price help

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia asked Gazprom to lower the prices of gas imports by 21% to $130 per thousand cubic metres to help it weather a fierce economic storm that has hit the region.

Media reported that Armenian gas consumers currently pay an excessive price for gas. Russia reduced the cost of gas sold to Armenia last year but the government didn’t pass that saving on to consumers. It now says that it’s time to give Armenian consumers a discount.

Last year, Armenians protested at a proposed increase in the price of electricity, giving the authorities a sharp reminder of their reputation for street-level politics.

In that instance the government backed down and avoided the price rises.

Armenia is a key Russian ally in the South Caucasus. The Russian military maintains a major base in Armenia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Nordavia flies to Armenia

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian airline company Nordavia said it will open a regular flight from St. Petersburg to Yerevan. Nordavia previously only operated regular domestic flights in western Russia. According to the press statement, Nordavia will fly between St. Petersburg and Armenia’s capital three times a week.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Armenia’s bank wants IPO

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s biggest bank Ameriabank said that it would seek an IPO in London within the next couple of years after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) bought a stake in it. If Ameriabank did list in London it would be the first Armenian company to list on a Western stock market.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Yerevan Jur to improve water supplies in Armenia

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Yerevan Jur, a French company managing the water network in Armenia’s capital, said it has launched a new $21.6m programme to improve water supplies. Veolia, a French utilities company listed in New York and Paris, established Yerevan Jur in 2006. International lenders, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will finance the water network project.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

First Armenian leader gets ill

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first leader of post-Soviet Armenia, has been flown to the United States for emergency treatment on what local media have described as a cancer. Mr Ter-Petrosyan, 71, was president of Armenia between 1991 and 1998. He has since become a vocal opponent of the government and was blamed for whipping up street protests in 2008 that culminated in police shooting dead at least 10 people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Armenia’s Ameriabank aims for London IPO within 2 or 3 years

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ameriabank, Armenia’s largest bank, said it wants to list its shares on the London stock exchange, after it received an investment of around $100m from international lenders, including the EBRD and the World Bank’s IFC.

If Ameriabank does list on LSE, it would be the first Armenian bank, or company even, to be publicly traded on a Western stock exchange. In the South Caucasus it would be the second publicly traded bank after Bank of Georgia.

Ameriabank’s chairman Andrew Mkrtchyan said the bank plans an IPO in the next two or three years.

“Our aspiration is an IPO (initial public offering) and to try to triple our balance sheet in the next three years,” Mr Mkrtchyan told Reuters.

The EBRD said it paid $30m for an equity stake of around 20% in Ameriabank and has pledged an additional $10m for the bank’s asset growth.

“This is the largest single-ticket equity deal the EBRD has signed in the region to date,” the EBRD said in a statement.

By becoming a shareholder, the EBRD has committed to growing the bank in Armenia.

“As a shareholder the EBRD will support Ameriabank’s development, with a special emphasis on corporate governance,” Mark Davis, head of the EBRD Yerevan office, said.

The World Bank’s IFC also provided Ameriabank with a $50m loan to increase its lending capacity.

For Armenia, the investments by the EBRD and the IFC are a vote of confidence in its banking sector and are especially important at a time when currencies and economies in the region are depreciating or falling back on earlier growth spurts.

For foreign investors, an Ameriabank IPO would give them a chance to buy into an Armenian corporation for the first time.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Armenia’s foreign trade stalls

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s foreign trade dropped by 20% in the year to the end of November, the state’s statistics agency said. In particular, the data showed that imports into Armenia had dropped by 26% to just under $3b, showing the impact of the current economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Remittances drop to Armenia

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia fell by 22% in November 2015 compared to November 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank. The majority of the remittances came from Russia which is labouring under a recession triggered by the fall in oil and Western sanctions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Armenia arrests assassination plotters

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces in Armenia arrested two more people, including Garnik Markarian, leader of a small, obscure opposition party, for allegedly being part of a group plotting a series of assassinations. In November, security forces in Armenia raided a house in Yerevan and arrested 10 people for allegedly being linked to the assassination plot. In the following weeks, at least 12 more people were arrested.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

11 die from swine flu in Armenia

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 11 people have died of H1N1 Swine Flu in Armenia, media reported quoting the ministry of health. The ministry of health said that this did not equate to an epidemic, although there are another 80 people in prison suffering from the flu. Swine flu worries governments around the world because it can spread and has previously triggered epidemics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)