|
EBRD President signs three deals at start of official visit to Russia
Jean Lemierre, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, signed three deals worth a combined €43.8 million today at the start of his first official visit to Russia.
The deals include a €3.5 million (US$ 3 million) contribution to a €11.5 million (US$ 10 million) capital increase broadening the ownership of KMB-Bank, the main vehicle though which the EBRD’s highly successful Russian Small Business Fund (RSBF) programme is being applied. The new shareholders are Germany’s DEG (Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungs Gesellschaft) (22 percent) and the Netherlands’ Triodos Bank NV (8 percent). As a consequence, the EBRD and the non-profit Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) will each have stakes of 35 percent. The EBRD last month extended KMB-Bank a five-year €35.3 million (US$ 30 million loan) -- the second such loan in less than a year – that will help the bank meet its target of almost doubling its lending portfolio to €70.6 million (US$ 60 million) by the end of this year.
Mr Lemierre also signed a €17.3 million (US$ 15 million) loan to the Chelyabinsk Electrolytic Zinc Plant, the EBRD’s first long-term loan to a Russian industrial firm since the 1998 crisis. The money will allow the plant to comply with the latest international and Russian environmental standards, expand capacity and refine zinc at new high grades to meet London Metal Exchange standards.
The third deal is a €23 million (US$ 20 million) subordinated loan to Raiffeisenbank Moscow, a 100 percent subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Zentralbank, aimed at strengthening the capitalisation of the bank and supporting its intention to develop retail operations in Russia and provide medium-term finance for Russian businesses. The loan will count towards the bank’s Tier-2 capital.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Lemierre said the three deals reflected some of the EBRD’s key functions in Russia: to lend to creditworthy businesses whose activities contribute to the development of the Russian economy, and to help the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the key to any successful economy.
Mr Lemierre is in Moscow to attend the session of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC). He will hold a series of meetings with senior officials, including Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Trade and Economic Development Minister German Gref, before leaving on October 10 for St Petersburg, where he will hold talks with the local government and visit a number of EBRD projects.
|
