MDM Bank Successfully Places OJSC Sibirtelecom CLN

11.04.2008 17:41

Moscow, 10 April 2008 – MDM Bank announces the successful placement of OJSC Sibirtelecom’s first CLN for USD 90 mln. The CLN has a three-year maturity period, while the bearer has the right to put the bond within a year-and-a-half of issue. The CLN will have an annual yield to put of 9.25%. MDM Bank arranged the placement, while RCF Capital Trust acted as financial advisor to OJSC Sibirtelecom.

The issue was placed among a wide range of investors, with around 52% of the placement going to foreign investors and the remaining 48% placed in Russia. The foreign investor breakdown is as follows: 38% from the UK, 12% from Switzerland, and around 2% from Asia and other European countries. During marketing, the arranger received 25 orders totaling USD 130 mln. The placement was preceded by road shows in London and Geneva.

OAO Sibirtelecom has attracted funds for refinancing part of its current debt portfolio as well as for financing its 2008 investment program.

Nikolai Rybakov, Financial Director at Sibirtelecom, said that the Company is pleased with its cooperation with MDM Bank and RCF Capital Trust as well as with the results of the placement: “We are happy with our cooperation with MDM Bank and the significant amount of work the Bank put into this placement. I would especially like to thank RCF Capital Trust, which has helped the Company for a number of years in forming its financial strategy. It is well-known that we had to postpone the placement several times as a result of the difficult market conditions, but the success of the issue underscores the interest on the part of investors in reliable borrowers from Russia, as well as and the arranger’s professionalism. The CLN issue is our first experience with international public debt markets, and the Company plans to use on this source of financing in the future.”

Anton Kirukhin, Managing Director, Head of the MDM Bank Capital Debt Markets, said: “The Sibirtelecom placement is the first time a subsidiary of the Svyazinvest Group has attracted funds on the international capital markets. This is a very interesting category of issuer for investors, and we are glad to have paved the way for Sibirtelecom and Svyazinvest to the international financial markets. Additionally, we believe that Sibirtelecom’s placement is the first truly market-based securities issue since the beginning of the year by a Russian company with a lower-than-investment-grade rating.”

Agaron Papoyan, a partner at RCF Capital Trust, said: “We are satisfied with the successful placement of Sibirtelecom’s notes on the international capital market. Sibirtelecom is the first of the Svyazinvest group of companies to realize a strategy of diversifying its borrowing portfolio. This strategy was developed with the assistance of our company and approved by the Board of Directors of OAO Sibirtelecom last year.”

MDM Bank was founded in December 1993 and holds a General Banking License issued by the Central Bank of Russia (#2361 dated 31 March 2008). MDM Bank is one of the most dynamically developing banks in Russia and is among the top Russian banks according to assets and equity. Today, MDM Bank is a modern universal financial institution offering a full range of services to its clients. MDM has one of the highest credit ratings among privately-owned Russian banks – Standard & Poor’s (BB, stable), Fitch Ratings (BB, stable) and Moody’s (Ba1, stable) – and is the only Russian financial organization that has been given a public corporate governance rating by Standard & Poor’s (6+). Standard and Poor’s awarded MDM Bank the highest ranking in its study of ‘Transparency and Disclosure by Russian banks’ in 2006 and 2007. The Bank was also regarded by Euromoney magazine as “one of the leading banks in Russia and Emerging Europe, applying the most advanced standards of corporate governance.”
MDM Bank has received a number of awards from Global Finance magazine:
2005 – ‘Best Domestic Bank’ and ‘Editor’s Special Award for Transparency’.
2006 – ‘Best Forex Bank’, ‘Best Domestic Bank’, ‘Best Domestic M&A Arranger’, and ‘Best Bank in Corporate Governance’. In October 2006, Euromoney magazine awarded MDM Bank ‘Leading Bank in Corporate Governance in Emerging Europe’.
2007 – ‘Corporate Governance Editor’s Award,’ and ‘Best Forex Bank.’

OAO Sibirtelom is one of Russia’s largest telecommunications providers operating in the Siberian Federal District (SFD). The Company today is a telecoms leader in the SFD, with a market share of 41% and provides 82% of local service, 97% of intra-zone connections, 52% of Internet access and 23% of the cellular phone service. The Company has nearly 4.3 mln fixed-line subscribers and nearly 4.27 mln cellular-phone subscribers, with its advantage being the development of its network infrastructure and the offer of a full range of services to a wide variety of users among the general and private population throughout its service area. The major shareholder is OAO Svyazinvest with 50.67% of the Company’s common shares.

RCF Capital Trust offers a wide range of investment and banking services as well as corporate financing and asset-management services. RCF is the financial advisor to OAO Svyazinvest and Interregional Electricity Companies. Contact: www.rcfcap.com tel. +7(495) 9335454.

Inquiries:

Investor Relations: +7 495 221 30 75
Public Relations: +7 495 363 27 41

14.04.2008 17:45

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