Bank of Georgia raises $100 mln in share issue

TBILISI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Bank of Georgia (BGEOq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Georgia's largest bank by assets, said on Wednesday it raised $100 million through an offering of new ordinary shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDR).

The bank said in a statement it had placed four million ordinary shares in the form of GDRs at a price of $25 per GDR, which is equal to a 1.6 percent discount to the prevailing closing market price on the date of the offering.

The offering represents about 14.7 percent of the bank's share capital before the issue.

ING Bank acted as the sole bookrunner, Unicredit Group as a lead manager, and Bank of Georgia's brokerage unit Galt and Taggart Securities as a selling agent.

The bank did not disclose who bought shares. It said before the offering that its shareholders, the Firebird and East Capital funds, indicated their intention to participate in the offering.

"The funds raised enable us to work for the consolidation of our position in the Georgian market and provide funding for international expansion," Nika Enukidze, the bank's acting supervisory board chairman, said in the statement.

The bank, the only Georgian lender listed on the London Stock Exchange, raised $160 million in its initial public offering in November 2006. Its 2007 net profit almost tripled to 75.4 million lari ($47.7 million). (Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Paul Bolding)