OREANDA-NEWS. March 12, 2008. A leader of Lithuania’s structured investment product market AB DnB NORD Bankas will place 3-year guaranteed-yield notes until April 8 their return linked to changes of the Middle East equity prices.

AB DnB NORD Bankas has set a 90 percent participation rate on notes intended for a wide circle of investors. That means that a holder of the securities at the maturity will be repaid the principal and 90 percent of the calculated gain of UBS Middle East and North Africa index. The bank also extends guarantee that at the maturity the principal investment amount and three percent interest will be paid to the note holder shall the calculated index value falls below the initial.

 “A rapid economic growth of the Middle East countries supported by export of increasingly pricy energy resources with just one-third export going to the USA is an advantage offered by the Middle East markets. Increasing income flow from oil export to the local market leads to development of the finance, transport, telecommunications, logistics and real estate sectors in these countries having positive effect on equity prices,” – says Andrius Naиajus, Manager of the Investment Banking of DnB NORD Bankas.

The notes shall mature on 11 April 2011. The notes can be sold prior to maturity at market price. The yield-guarantee applies to the notes at the maturity.

The notes shall be available to customers in all AB DnB NORD Bankas outlets. During the allotment period a discount will be applied to the price of notes, which will decrease as the maturity date gets closer. The minimum investment amount has been set at LTL 5000.

AB DnB NORD Bankas that won the country’s Central Securities Depository award for its active performance on the local debt securities market last year, had successfully allotted debt securities at a nominal value of LTL 1.1 billion as at the end of 2007, the majority of them equity and commodity linked notes.

AB DnB NORD Bankas is part of DnB NORD banking group which was established by the Norway’s largest bank DnB NOR and North Germany’s largest bank NORD/LB. AB DnB NORD Bankas runs three subsidiaries i Lithuania: asset management firm UAB DnB NORD Investicijш Valdymas, leasing arm UAB DnB NORD Lizingas and real estate brokerage UAB DnB NORD Bustas.