OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2011. Sistema JSFC (LSE: SSA), the largest diversified public financial corporation in Russia and the CIS, announced that its Board of Directors has approved the purchase of up to 19.5 billion rubles of Series 02 bonds (five-year non-convertible bonds) and Series 03 bonds (seven-year non-convertible bonds) via a Russian-law tender offer. Sistema will simultaneously issue Series 04 bonds (five year non-convertible bonds, described in the release on December 21, 2010) in the same amount, reported the press-centre of Sistema.

As a result of these transactions, Sistema’s outstanding indebtedness will not increase, but it is expected that the maturity of Sistema’s existing bond portfolio will be extended.
 
The purchase of the Series 02 and Series 03 bonds is expected to close on March 22, 2011.
 
VTB Capital is acting as Sole Agent and Arranger for the purchase of the Series 02 and Series 03 bonds.