Georgian Railway, the state owned national railway operator, announced today (22 October) that Irakli Ezugbaia, the Chief Executive Officer, has decided to resign after spending seven years with the company. Under the management of Irakli Ezugbaia, total assets of Georgian Railway grew almost 5x to GEL 2.4bn (US$ 1.4bn) from 2005 to 2011. Total revenues grew by 9.5% CAGR over the same period reaching GEL 477mn (US$ 283mn) in 2011, while net margin improved to 36.5% from 8.3% in 2005. The company successfully placed its US$ 250mn debut Eurobond issue in 2010 and subsequently issued US$ 500mn Eurobonds in 2012. The successor is not yet known, but we expect the new CEO to be appointed once the new government is in place (expected to be approved by the parliament this week).
