OREANDA-NEWS. URALSIB Leasing Company, one of the leading financial lease services providers in Russia, has successfully placed a debut issue of ruble notes (CLN), linked to RUB 2,5 bn loan due in January 2009, reported the press-centre of ING Bank.

ING Bank N.V., London Branch and Bank URALSIB acted as joint placement agents. The transaction was executed as a Euroclearable private placement under ING Bank N.V.’s registered EUR 50 bn Global Issuance Programme.

Prior to the placement the borrower has conducted meetings with investors in Moscow, London, Zurich, Geneva and Lugano.

Initially investors had a choice between 12 and 18 months duration with coupon guidance in a range from 9,25% to 10,00% per annum. The deal was closed with semi-annual coupon at 9,75% per annum and 18 months maturity. The transaction was settled on 1 August 2007 through EuroClear.

This was the first ever unsecured euroclearable rouble transaction for the Russian leasing sector and may be considered unique.

Elena Guschina, CEO of URALSIB Leasing Company, especially emphasized that the success of the placement showed support of both international and Russian investors for the universal company’s development strategy, aimed at wide regional expansion (more than 60 branches by the end of 2007), and combination of small and medium enterprises operations development with stable growth of volumes on corporate clients’ market.

"The goal of the borrowing was not only to refinance existing loan facilities, - stressed Dmitry Kornilov, CFO of URALSIB Leasing Company, - but mostly the introduction of the URALSIB Leasing Company to international investor community as an attractive borrower aimed at a substantial borrowing programme in the international capital markets".

"Despite market turbulence, when many Russian borrowers had to postpone or cancel the placements, we were capable not only to improve the initial yield with maximum issue duration, but also to reach a well diversified distribution by geography and investor type”, - commented Stepan Amosov, vice president, Financial Markets at ING Wholesale Banking.

"We are positive that this is a good deal not only for the issuer, but also for investors. Here there is a good credit quality, strong currency and acceptable yield. In future we will closely monitor the quotes for this paper and act as a market-maker", - said Alexander Pugach, Executive Director, Head of Fixed Income at Bank URALSIB.

Transaction summary:
Issuer: ING Bank N.V., under its 50bn Global Issuance Programme
Borrower: Uralsib Leasing Company (ULC)
Issue: Credit Linked Notes
Underlying Obligation: Loan extended by the Issuer to the Borrower
Size: RUB 2,5bn
Tenor: 18 months
Coupon: 9,75 % per annum, s/a, Act/365
Joint Placement Agents: ING, Uralsibbank
Investors structure: 50% - bank’s proprietary positions, 36% - asset managers, 10% - hedge funds, 4% - private banking.
Geographical distribution: UK - 41%, Russia - 29%, USA (offshore) - 20%, and Continental Europe – 10%.