China's Xinjiang Hualing Industry and Trade (Group) Co. Ltd. announced that it had acquired a 90-percent of stake of the Georgian JSC Basisbank, becoming the first Chinese private enterprise to acquire a commercial bank overseas, according to a company statement on July 3.

The acquisition was completed after an agreement was reached between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the bank's supervisory board Chairman Zurab Tsikhistavi. EBRD and Tsikhistavi, as the bank's single international shareholder and the founder, will each retain 5 percent of the equity stake.

The bank will change name and operate in Tbilisi and Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city. Tsikhistavi will still chair the bank's supervisory board. Founded in 1993, the Basisbank ranked 11th among Georgia's 19 existing commercial banks in terms of total assets, with an asset value of 154 million Georgian laris ($94 million) at end of March. The bank's businesses include deposits, loans, guarantees, cash and account settlements and securities.