OREANDA-NEWS. On November 12, 2007 Alliance Bank JSC (Almaty), shares and bonds of which are traded in Kazakhstan stock exchange's (KASE) category "A" official list had provided KASE with the press-release with next contention, reported the press-centre of KASE:

On November 6, 2007, according to the repayment schedule, Alliance Bank repaid tranche A (370 days) of USD300m syndicated loan raised in November 2006 for total amount of USD188 million. The loan was provided by a syndicate of foreign banks with three-tranche structure of 370 days, 2 and 3 years. Citibank N.A., ING Bank N.V. and Standard Bank Plc. acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers of subject facility.

On November 7, 2007, according to the repayment schedule, Alliance Bank repaid of USD51 million, last tranche B (2 years) of USD170m syndicated loan, provided by group of foreign banks in November 2005. Facility had a dual tranche structure of 1 and 2 years. Deutsche Bank AG and ING Wholesale Banking acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers of this loan. Tranche A in the amount of USD119m was repaid on November 6, 2006. Thus, Alliance Bank has fully met its obligations under this facility.

"Repayment of these syndicated loans reflects sufficient liquidity level of the bank and full adherence to all undertaken obligations on time", - commented Almira Akhmetkarimova, Managing Director of Alliance Bank

It should be noted that repayment schedule of the Bank's external obligations is evenly distributed for the next several years allowing the Bank to effectively manage its liquidity.

Alliance Bank is one of the largest financial institutions in Kazakhstan and a leading bank in the retail lending sector with a market share of 20%. The main shareholder of the Bank is Seimar Alliance Financial Corporation, which, as of October 1, 2007, owned 72,04% of the Bank's voting shares.

According to the non-consolidated unaudited financial statements of Alliance Bank as of October 1, 2007, the assets of the Bank stood at KZT 1 224,7 billion and equity totaled KZT 150,1 billion. Net profit of the Bank following the results of 9 months 2007 totaled KZT 30 billion. As of November 1, the current liquid assets of the Bank comprised KZT 242, 79 billion, or more than USD 2 billion (official exchange rate of the NBRK - KZT120,89=USD1)

Alliance Bank has the following ratings assigned by international rating agencies:

 - Moody's Investors Service: long-term foreign currency rating "Aa2", short-term foreign currency rating is "NP" and financial strength "E+";

 - Fitch Ratings: long-term foreign currency issuer default rating is "BB-" with "Stable" outlook, short-term foreign currency issuer default rating is "B", individual is "D", supporting rating is "3" and supporting long-term issuer default rating is "BB-";

 - Standard & Poor's: long-term counterparty rating is "B+", short-term rating is "A", with "Stable" outlook.

Alliance Bank is represented by extensive branch network with 25 branches and 216 outlets in 47 cities and 18 settlements of Kazakhstan and a customer base of more than 2 million clients.