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Press Release

Friday, January 15, 2010

U.S. Small Business Uses OPIC Loan to Construct Apartment Buildings in Georgia

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A U.S. small business will use a loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to construct four residential apartment buildings comprising a total of 318 apartments in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

 OPIC will provide a $10 million loan to JSC Iberia Real Estate, a leading Georgian real estate company, for the project, which comprises a nine-story building with 89 apartments on Kipshidze Street in Tbilisi; a ten-story building with 18 apartments on Abashidze Street; a ten-apartment building on Radiani Street; and a 22-unit complex of 201 apartments in Iberia Hills.  Firebird Avrora Advisors LLC, an investment fund manager which partly owns Iberia RE, is the U.S. sponsor of the project.

OPIC Acting President Dr. Lawrence Spinelli said timing of the project was propitious, given the fact that the Georgian economy is experiencing a housing boom, as Soviet-era housing is being replaced with newer housing stock. At the same time, the country faces a chronic housing shortage. According to estimates, Tbilisi has the lowest total residential stock per capita and the highest average residents per household of any capital in Eastern Europe. 

“Georgia’s housing sector is on the verge of significant growth, given the great demand in the country, but it has been hard hit by the crises in international financial markets. This project will both help Georgia meet that housing demand and provide a necessary source of funding for the construction sector,” Dr. Spinelli said, noting that OPIC staff members had visited Georgia in October 2009 and reported significant progress on earlier Iberia projects supported by OPIC financing. “We are pleased to partner with Iberia in a project that will provide so many developmental benefits to Georgia.”
 


OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

 

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.