OREANDA-NEWS. February 22, 2013. RusForest AB announces the positive result of the Company’s Debt-to-Equity Swap with 98.6% acceptance.

The subscription period for RusForest’s Debt-to-Equity Swap (carried out by way of a Set-Off Issue) ended. Bondholders representing a nominal amount of SEK 260,004,750 (USD 40.6 million), corresponding to approximately 98.6% of the total outstanding nominal amount of the bonds post-reduction, accepted to participate in the Debt-to-Equity Swap. The remaining Bondholders that chose not to participate in the Debt-to-Equity Swap now hold a zero coupon bond with a reduced nominal amount of SEK 3,745,250 (USD 585,195) maturing in May 2018.

The completion of the Transaction was conditional upon 90% participation in the Debt-to-Equity Swap. Now that this condition has been satisfied, the Transaction will continue as planned with the Rights Issue and Directed Issue. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur by the end of March 2013.

Based on the acceptances in the Debt-to-Equity Swap, the Board of Directors of RusForest has resolved on the allocation of new shares.

6,500,118,750 newly issued shares, in the form of BTAs, will be allocated to bondholders participating in the Debt-to-Equity Swap. The BTAs will be converted to new shares in connection with registration of the Debt-to-Equity Swap with the Swedish Companies Registration Office, expected on or about March 27, 2013.

Trading in the BTAs relating to the Debt-to-Equity Swap will be facilitated through Pareto Ohman AB.

The total shares outstanding pro forma for the Debt-to-Equity Swap, Rights Issue and Directed Issue is expected to be 13,203,388,040 before the 100:1 reverse split. The reverse split is expected to occur in the first half of April 2013.

RusForest is a Swedish forestry company operating in eastern Siberia and the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. RusForest’s largest shareholder is Vostok Nafta, which owns approximately 29% of the Company’s shares (before allocation in the Debt-to-Equity Swap).