Yesterday in Novosibirsk, General Director of Sibacadembank OJSC (SAB) Andrey Bekarev and senior banker of the financial institutions department of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Nick Tessiman signed a cooperation agreement under which the EBRD will acquire a blocking stake in Sibacadembank. The EBRD intends to enter the capital of SAB for seven years. It is planned that during this time Sibacadembank, which will become the first Siberian bank with foreign capital participation, will occupy a serious niche in the lending market for small and medium-sized businesses thanks to access to cheap and long-term EBRD resources. It is expected that the volume of the credit line next year will be at least $100 million. Kommersant As of November 1, 2004, the equity capital of Sibacadembank OJSC amounted to 833.86 million rubles. The profit received by the bank for ten months of the current year reached 174.4 million rubles. This exceeds the same figure for 2003 by 94.6%. The main shareholders of SAB are its top managers: Chairman of the Board of Directors Igor Kim, member of the Board of Directors Alexander Taranov and General Director Andrey Bekarev.

On September 7, the EBRD Board of Directors considered the issue of purchasing a blocking stake in Sibacadembank and made a positive decision on this matter. “This cooperation should demonstrate to other regional banks that a private bank with an effective management system can successfully compete in its market niche with state banks and banks belonging to financial and industrial groups,” the EBRD said in an official statement. Ten days later, the board of directors of Sibacadembank, in turn, approved the placement of an additional issue of shares in favor of the EBRD. A total of 118.7 million shares with a par value of 1 ruble were placed. at a price of 2.4 rubles. per share. The share premium will be approximately $9.8 million. According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAB Igor Kim, the issue will be closed by the end of the year. After its completion, the EBRD's share in the authorized capital of Sibacadembank will be 25% plus one share.

As Igor Kim said at the agreement signing ceremony, the banks had been working towards this cooperation for three and a half years. “We approached the EBRD back in 2001. This was followed by many years of negotiations, checks, procedures, sometimes not very pleasant. We had to increase our work efficiency and introduce new technologies to meet the required level,” Mr. Kim summed up the results of the preliminary work. According to EBRD representative Nick Tessiman, three years ago Sibacadembank was at the first stage of development, and “now we must admit that we have managed to create a very strong and interesting brand here. As for the timing of consideration of the proposal, we are a very conservative bank, and joining capital is a serious step.” “We needed many meetings and checks to be sure that this step was correct,” Nick Tessiman confirmed the words of Igor Kim.

The main area of cooperation between Sibacadembank and the EBRD will remain the development of programs to support regional businesses. “It’s no secret that in Russia now there are practically no sources of long-term and cheap money. We have gained access to a global financial resource, which we will use for the development of small and medium-sized businesses. In particular, next year we plan to receive about $100 million for a period of more than five years,” said Mr. Kim.

The EBRD was not the only foreign financial institution that showed interest in participating in the capital of Sibacadembank. “Several more options for cooperation are now being considered,” said Igor Kim. According to him, after the entry of the EBRD, “our positions have seriously strengthened and if earlier we came up with proposals, now we receive proposals and we ask questions.”

NATALIA MOSKVORETSKAYA

Kommersant (Novosibirsk) No. 227 from 03.12.2004, p. 16

EBRD will receive a package from Sibacadembank