YEREVAN, June 26. / ARKA /. Araratbank will conduct an IPO before the end of this year, the bank’s board chairman Ashot Osipyan said today when speaking at its annual meeting.

Presenting the bank’s strategic plan of actions he said the IPO will be conducted outside Armenia, in London, UK, in ‘an alternative market’ and that the bank had a preliminary agreement to this end.
Araratbank was established in 1996.

The biggest shareholder of the bank is the oil trader company Flash (64.24%), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) holds 25% and another 10% is owned by RURAL IMPULSE FUND II SA SICAV SIF company. Araratbank joined NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange in 2009.

The bank's assets in 2014 increased by 10.48% to 138.36 billion drams, its liabilities amounted to 116.69 billion drams having grown by 10.5%, the bank’s capital saw an increase of 10.3% to 21.6 billion drams, its credit investments grew by 10.6% to  65.9 billion drams, while its net profit declined by 6.6% to  2.8 billion drams. -0-