Consultants from Alvarez & Marsal, an international company known for its work in turnaround management, have been studying the state of Tojik Sodirot Bonk (TSB) for more than a week, according to the TSB press service.
A team of specialists from Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) numbering seven persons has reportedly been working on recovering TSB since May 23.
This team is engaged in working out the recovery plan to restore TSB’s financial situation. This work is being carried out within the framework of technical assistance provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“Although TSB finished 2016 with negative exponents, positive results have been yielded over the first quarter of this year. This is a sign of recovery of the bank’s financial situation,” TSB head Tojiddin Pirzoda noted here recently at a meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pirzoda noted that TSB currently operates within the framework of the financial situation recovery strategy for 2017-2019 that was worked out at the beginning of this year.
According to the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), A&M will work out the plan of recovery of TSB and Agroinvestbonk while EBRD will provide technical assistance for carrying out those works. Appropriate agreements have reportedly been signed.
Recall, TSB and Agroinvestbonk last year experienced severe problems in providing account-holders with their own savings.
But then on December 21, parliament approved a government decree to issue bonds to recapitalize four distressed banks,
TSB reportedly got 2.25 billion somoni ($285 million at end of 2016 exchange rates) and Agroinvestbonk 1.7 billion somoni ($215 million).
Assets on TSB’s books reportedly include the bank headquarters in Dushanbe, 43 branches across the country, Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) Dushanbe Moll (Tajikistan’s largest shopping mall, which is home to the country's first ever hypermarket to be part of the French Auchan chain), Tajikistan Hotel in Dushanbe, eight nine-story apartment buildings in Danghara district (Khatlon province), spinning mills in Danghara and Farkhor districts (Khatlon province), cotton ginneries in Khatlon province, and auto-repair enterprise.
Tojik Sodirot Bonk was established in December 1990 as the Tajik branch of the Vnesh Econom Bank of the former Soviet Union, and it initially specialized in trade and import-export banking. Later this branch was reorganized into a Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Tajikvnesheconombank”. In June 1999 the bank was renamed and registered as Tojik Sodirot Bonk or TSB.
Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a global professional services firm notable for its work in turnaround management and performance improvement of a number of large, high-profile businesses both in the USA and internationally such as Lehman Brothers, HealthSouth, Tribune Company, Warnaco, Interstate bakeries, Target, Darden Restaurants and Arthur Andersen.
Alvarez & Marsal was founded in 1983 by Tony Alvarez II, former Coopers & Lybrand workout specialist and Bryan Marsal, a former Citibank workout banker, after the two met and worked together at Norton Simon Inc. They created a professional services firm focused on turnaround management, corporate restructuring and operational performance improvement in an area where previously individual executives operated.
