OREANDA-NEWS. On April 30, 2008 the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Barclays Capital (the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC), BayernLB, BNP Paribas, Citibank, N.A., London, Deutsche Bank AG London Branch, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Ireland plc, J.P. Morgan plc, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited have been mandated as Bookrunners and Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers to arrange a US\\$ 1,000,000,000 dual tranche syndicated term loan facility for JSC VTB Bank, reported the press-centre of VTB Bank.

The facility, which is for general funding purposes, comprises 3-year and 18-month elements. The 3-year tranche carries a margin of 65 bps over LIBOR and the 18 month piece a margin of 60 bps over LIBOR.

The 3-year tranche is being provided by the Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers. Other banks and financial institutions will be invited to participate only in the 18-month tranche which is being offered for syndication.

The VTB group is an international finance group offering a wide range of banking services and products, including retail, corporate and investment banking services across Russia, certain other CIS countries and a number of countries in Western Europe, Asia and Africa. As at 31st December 2007, VTB was the second largest banking group both by assets (US\\$ 92,6bn) and deposits (US\\$ 37,1bn).

The Russian Federation, through the Federal Property Agency, is currently VTB’s largest shareholder at 77,5% and is the controlling shareholder of the group. VTB’s ordinary shares are traded on the RTS and MICEX in Russia, and its global depositary receipts are traded on the London Stock Exchange.

VTB has an issuer long-term credit rating in both local and foreign currency of “BBB+”, an issuer short-term credit rating in both local and foreign currency of “A-2”, a senior unsecured of “BBB+” from Standard & Poor’s, a bank deposits rating  of “Baa2/Prime-1” and a senior unsecured of “A2” from Moody’s Investors Service, and a long-term issuer default rating in both local and foreign currency of “BBB+”, a short-term issuer default rating of “F-2” and a senior unsecured of “BBB+” from Fitch Ratings Ltd.