OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2014. NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RUSSIA OR ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

Today Alfa-Banking Group has announced an opening of an orderbook under Basel 3 compliant 10,25NC5,25 subordinated debt offering. We expect this transaction to become the longest among other Russian issuers since the middle of the summer 2014.

The new issue is structured in accordance with the 395-P regulation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and will increase Alfa-Bank Tier 2 capital.

At the time being the Bank has strong capital adequacy ratios, however the Bank has decided to further increase capital buffer in order to be more flexible in terms of growth perspectives next year. The deal size will be determined based on investor demand and its pricing parameters.

Alexei Tchoukhlov, Chief Financial Officer, has commented: "We’ve arranged a series of investor meetings in Europe and in the US at the end of last month and we have been reassured by the international investor community that Alfa-Bank credit is viewed quite highly while of course the geopolitical concerns about Russia are not yet completely eliminated. We have chosen 144A format for this transaction since its very strict disclosure standards and due diligence rules should provide additional comfort to the market participants. The last but not least we are very proud of the international team of the Joint Lead-Managers which comprises of the leading US and European names".

Joint Lead-Managers and Bookrunners of the issue are Alfa-Bank, Goldman Sachs International, JP Morgan Securities Plc, Merrill Lynch International, UBS AG.