OREANDA-NEWS. On July 05, 2008 The board of directors of Probusinessbank recommended to the Bank’s General Shareholders Meeting to issue new shares in favour of Swedish investment fund East Capital Financials Fund up to a maximum amount of 1,2 billion roubles, reported the press-centre of Probusinessbank.

The ordinary meeting of shareholders at which the decision on the forthcoming issue will be made takes place on July 17th. East Capital Financials Fund currently owns a 10,25 % stake in Probusinessbank.

According to Jyrki Talvitie, the Head of Moscow office of East Capital, the company is very satisfied with the rapid development of Probusinessbank, especially given the current backdrop of persistent instability in the financial markets.

"The bank has shown the ability to expand its business in new regions, resulting in growth of the client base. To support the bank’s continued growth we are pleased to participate in the new issue of shares, increasing our stake in the capital of Probusinessbank", – summarized Jyrki Talvitie.

Sergey Leontiev, the President of the Financial Group Life: "We are very glad to see East Capital again as our business partner. They are a long-term investor into the Group Life, and we have developed a solid business relationship. That fact that East Capital is ready to support our Group in the realization of our strategy in an unstable market environment is strong confirmation of our chosen development path and the basis for further mutually beneficial cooperation".

Note:
Besides Moscow-based Probusinessbank the Financial Group Life also includes VUZ-Bank in Ekaterinburg, "Express-Volga" in Saratov and Ivanovsky Oblastnoy Bank. High quality of realization of strategy of the Group Life is confirmed at the international level. The company, the first in Russia, has entered in Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for executing strategy.

The best strategically focused companies of the world are included in the Hall of Fame of the Balanced Scorecard system, among which are BMW Financial Services, Canon, Chrysler, Hilton, HSBC, Dupont, LG-Philips, Motorola, Nordea, Siemens and many others.

As of today the Group Life is presented by 185 offices in 47 regions of Russia. The group confidently enters Top-30 Russian banks by assets, is on 26th place in a rating by the size of a retail credit portfolio, Top-10 by the size of a credit portfolio to SMEs.

The company East Capital Financials FundAB is a shareholder of Probusinessbank since December 2006.

About East Capital
Founded in 1997, East Capital is a leading, independent asset manager specializing in Eastern European financial markets. The company, which is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Paris, Tallinn, Moscow, Oslo, Hong Kong, Milan and Vienna, actively manages over EUR 4.4bn, basing its investment strategy on thorough knowledge of the markets, fundamental analysis and frequent company visits by its investment teams.

The East Capital Financials Fund is a private equity fund, which makes equity investments in companies within the financial sector in Eastern Europe.