Forbes Georgia’s 100 Richest: How Developers and Builders Shape the Property Market

Practical implications for buyers and investors

This ranking is a tool for operational decisions. From our reporting and buyer interviews, here are the concrete ways it should affect strategy.

• Partner selection: if you want a local joint venture or co-investor, the list narrows the field to groups with deep capital and access to construction capacity, such as IG Development, Anagi, and Lisi Development. Those owners have track records and balance-sheet depth that foreign capital often wants.
• Pipeline visibility: owners who control malls, offices and hotels can accelerate or pause new residential projects depending on macro conditions; that creates timing windows for investors who track pipeline announcements and planning permits.
• Regional bets: Batumi is a repeated theme for builders like DAR Building and Bakuri. If your strategy targets tourism-driven residential or short-stay apartments, Batumi’s developer-led momentum matters.
• Asset class focus: the ranking shows large hotel and retail portfolios controlled by a few groups. For investors looking at commercial real estate or hotel conversions, deal flow is concentrated and may involve bidding against or in partnership with these groups.

What to do in practice:

• Verify ownership and stake structures using the Public Registry; Forbes used the registry and 2023 company filings and you should read the same documents.
• Demand transparency on EV/EBITDA assumptions when valuing private companies for a JV; Forbes used those multiples, and small changes in multiples can swing valuations dramatically in a thin market.
• Audit construction pipelines, permits and contractor relationships when assessing hypothetical returns or delivery timelines.

Risks and valuation caveats investors need to weigh

The Forbes Georgia ranking is careful and conservative, but it has limits that affect how you interpret the signal for property markets.

• Valuation model risk: most of Georgia’s biggest companies are private. Forbes used EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales for high-growth loss-making companies, and P/B for banks and insurers. Those approaches rely on appropriate and up-to-date multiples; in illiquid private markets multiples are imprecise.
• Data lag: figures are based on 2023 statements. Market changes since then — financing cost shifts, project delays or political developments — can alter real estate exposures quickly.
• Scope limitations: Forbes’ ranking values business assets held in Georgia only. It excludes personal property, private foreign assets and any wealth that could not be verified from public sources. That means some individuals’ true market influence may be under- or over-stated for purposes of domestic property deals.
• Political and concentration risk: several entrepreneurs have past or current public roles. In a small economy, political ties can affect permits, infrastructure decisions and competition for large plots of land. Concentration of ownership in key sectors can make the market less competitive and more dependent on a few actors.

We advise investors to treat the list as a starting point for due diligence, not as a valuation certificate.

Regional hotspots and sector trends driven by the list

The ranking highlights geographic and sector clusters that shape where returns will be found.

• Batumi: a cluster of developers like DAR Building and Bakuri is building momentum. Tourism-driven residential and hotel supply is concentrated there, and that drives short-stay product and associated amenities.
• Tbilisi retail and office: IG Development with its City Malls and City Tower has direct influence on retail rents and business-class office space in central neighbourhoods.
• Hospitality and conversions: hotel portfolios owned by Silk Road Group and Achara Group mean there is existing hotel inventory that could be upgraded or repurposed; investors in adaptive reuse projects should map owners and portfolio plans.
• Logistics and energy-linked property: ownership stakes in oil terminals and fuel distribution (for example, Trade Stone Iberia’s 30% stake in Blacksea Petroleum) intersect with port and storage real estate, important for industrial park and logistics investment.

These clusters are where we expect competition for prime land and permits to be fiercest over the next two to three years.

How foreign investors should approach partnerships and deals

If you are an overseas buyer or fund looking at Georgian property, use the ranking to build an initial shortlist. Then apply strict operational checks:

• Confirm company financials and the EV/EBITDA assumptions used in valuations.
• Check construction warranties, performance bonds and contractor credentials for firms like Anagi, Bakuri and DAR Building.
• Negotiate clear governance terms in any JV, especially on land title, exit triggers and minority protections.
• Assess currency exposure: Forbes converted valuations using 2.623 GEL/USD for the 2023 average; currency moves since then affect financing and exit returns.
• Map competing assets: malls, hotels and supermarket chains named in the ranking are both competitors and potential partners for co-locating mixed-use projects.

We recommend investing through small pilot stakes or structured earn-outs if you lack local operating experience.

Final assessment

For property and real estate Georgia, the Forbes list is a rare public ledger of concentrated private capital. Developers and construction companies account for a large share of the domestic entrepreneurial wealth that will decide how much housing is built, where retail space appears and which hotel properties are upgraded. The ranking also shows the limits of public data in a market dominated by private companies: valuations depend on multiples and 2023 filings, and they exclude assets outside Georgia.

Practical takeaway: any investor entering Georgia should treat the Forbes list as a directory of counterparties to be vetted, not as a guarantee of liquidity or future returns. Start conversations with named groups like IG Development, Anagi, Lisi Development and regional builders in Batumi, verify ownership through the Public Registry, and scrutinize the EV/EBITDA assumptions and project pipelines before committing capital.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does the Forbes ranking include personal assets and foreign holdings? A: No. The ranking values business assets held in Georgia only. It excludes personal property and foreign assets and includes only holdings that could be verified from public sources and 2023 financial statements.

Q: How did Forbes value private companies in the list? A: For private companies Forbes Georgia used EV/EBITDA multiples; for loss-making but growing firms they applied EV/Sales revenue multiples; financial institutions were valued using P/B ratios, with sector multiples drawn from European benchmarks in Q2 2023.

Q: Which developers are most important for residential and commercial deals? A: Among the most influential are IG Development (City Mall portfolio and City Tower), Anagi (major construction contractor), DAR Building and Bakuri (both active in Batumi), and Lisi Development (large Tbilisi project with multiple institutional stakeholders).

Q: Should foreign investors expect easy exits given the concentrations noted in the ranking? A: Liquidity in Georgian private markets can be limited. The ranking helps identify counterparties and where demand concentrates, but exit options depend on buyer depth, market conditions and the specific asset class. Always build exit scenarios into deal terms and check recent transaction precedents when possible.