Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Almaty, August 4 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - BTA Bank expects to sign a memorandum of understanding with creditors regarding restructuring of the borrowed funds by the end of September, the head of Samruk-Kazyna, Kairat Kelimbetov, said.

"According to the requirements of the regulators and its own expectations, BTA Bank plans to have a memorandum of understanding signed by the end of September," he told reporters on Tuesday.

Kelimbetov also said that on August 18 the creditors will meet BTA Bank management to review two documents: strategic business plan and BTA asset recovery plan."

"The creditors want to see the progress in bank's asset recovery," he said.

BTA Bank named Lovells LLP a legal advisor on the issues pertaining to asset return, according to the bank's press release.

"Those two processes: debt restructuring and asset recovery, we would like to combine," Kelimbetov said. "Creditors must be also interested in a transparent scenario of the asset return to be able to monitor the process," he said.

Experts estimate that it is feasible to return no more than 20% of BTA Group assets.

He also added that "unexpected asset returns" will be divided between the bank and creditors on a fifty-fifty basis.

"If the returns will be above 20%, for instance 50%, the margin of 30% will be divided by half," Kelimbetov added.

"The return is possible after a period of 3 years and after the completion of claim filing procedures, as these projects are located in other countries," he said.

"The return of BTA assets (located in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Armenia and Turkey) will be conducted under the supervision of an international consortium: by Lovells, on one hand, and a steering committee that reports to creditors, on the other hand," Kelimbetov said.

BTA Bank is one of the CIS banks leading in financing trading operations.

The debt restructuring program is expected to offer three options: purchase of the bank's debt for cash, rollover up to the maximum period of the long-term debt, and conversion of the debt into shares of the bank.

The external debts of BTA Bank are valued at $13 billion. This year the bank is to repay $3 billion of its external debts. BTA Bank is currently working with the main creditors on restructuring its debts.

Samruk-Kazyna Fund gained control over BTA Bank on February 2, 2009 and became its major shareholder with a 75.1% stake.

In 2008 BTA Bank was ranked 6th by assets among the CIS banks and 1st among the Kazakh commercial banks according to the Interfax-1000: CIS Banks ranking prepared by the Interfax Center of Economic Analysis.