OREANDA-NEWS. On August 11, 2008 the Investment Business of the VTB Group announced that a consortium consisting of VTB Bank Europe plc (“VTB Europe”), Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide and  Horizon Air Investment S.A. (a subsidiary of the Copelouzos Group, Greece)  has established a special purpose company, Northern Capital Gateway Ltd, incorporated in Russia, to participate on behalf of the consortium in the open tender  (the “Tender”) for the right to conclude an agreement on the development, reconstruction and operation of Pulkovo airport facilities based on Public Private Partnership (PPP), in the city of St. Petersburg in Russia (the “Project”), reported the press-centre of VTB Bank.

On 31st July 2008, "FPK FARVATER" Ltd, a special purpose company that has subsequently been renamed Northern Capital Gateway Ltd, submitted an application for participation in the prequalification stage of the Tender, and on 11 August 2008, the Tender Committee announced that Northern Capital Gateway Ltd had successfully passed the prequalification and was included in the official list of bidders for the Tender. Overall 9 prequalification applications have been submitted, out of which 7 have been selected for further participation in the Tender.

As the next stage of the Project’s implementation, the bidders will prepare and submit their bids to the Tender Committee by no later than the 5th February 2009. The successful bidder is expected to be announced in mid-March 2009.

Yuri Soloviev, the Head of the Investment Business of the VTB Group, said: “We are proud to see that VTB Europe, as a member of the Consortium, has successfully passed the prequalification of the tender for implementing such a high-profile and large-scale project for the city of St. Petersburg as “Pulkovo”. This project is also of high importance for the Investment Business of the VTB Group as it is entirely aligned with our strategy of further developing infrastructure investment business in Russia.”

Oleg Pankratov, co-head of Global Banking and the Head of Infrastructure Capital, added: “We are satisfied with the prequalification results. The Project is a key to the Group’s Investment Business and we will do our best to win the Tender. Our participation in this project fits perfectly with the overall strategy of VTB Europe’s Infrastructure Capital Department which was specifically set up to raise VTB’s profile in developing and financing PPP projects in Russia and the CIS, including transportation, energy, utilities and social infrastructure.”