OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2009. ATFBank (Almaty), listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), provided KASE with a press release issued by UniCredit, reported the press-centre of KASE:

UNICREDIT: OFFER TO INCREASE AUTHORIZED CAPITAL UP TO EUR4 BN APPROVED

The bank is strengthening its capabilities to support real economy with new permanent capital

UniCredit's directors unanimously decided to propose increase of authorized capital through issue of rights for a total of EUR4 bn, to strengthen own funds of the Group. The (Core Tier 1) ratio, which was 6.85% in June 2009, will improve 80 basis points.

The capital will be increased through issue of ordinary shares, specifying constant trust management, which will be offered mostly to current holders of ordinary and savings shares, in accordance with article 2441 of the Civil Code.

The extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be called in the middle of November 2009. At making decision on increase of the authorized capital, shareholders will be offered to propose the Board of Directors necessary authorities to agree on terms of capital increase, and closer to the operation date, define share subscription price (including issue profit), number of  shares, which will be issued and corresponding subscription ratio.

Provided receipt of permission from certain agencies, the transaction will be finalized at Q1 2010.

BofA Merrill Lynch and Corporate and investment banking service of UniCredit will act as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Managers of Order Book. Besides, Joint Managers of Order Book are Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs International, Mediobanca and UBS Investment Bank. Joint Managers of Order Book assumed obligations - with account to standard terms for this type of operations - guarantee increase of capital signing new shares, which will remain unsigned at the end of the auction.

In addition to the proposal the Board of Directors of UniCredit decided not to continue issue of capital securities, which must be signed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy and the Ministry of Finance of Austria.

The Board of Directors expressed its gratitude for decisive actions made by Italian and Austrian governments, which largely contributed to stabilization of financial system and creation of necessary terms for access to capital markets. UniCredit is confirming its constant support to economies where it works and its intention to continue develop of credit policy to support small and middle businesses and population, confirming its compensation policy, which will encourage long-term profitability, client satisfaction and healthy corporate management.

The Board of Directors of UniCredit approved strengthening own funds of UniCredit Bank Austria through signing of increase of the capital up to EUR2 bn.