OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2009. Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers authorized the Finance Ministry to extend a state guarantee to the new Eurobonds that Naftogaz of Ukraine is attempting to restructure, the Finance Ministry said yesterday, according to various local news agencies. The guarantee will be granted as soon as agreement is reached with investors regarding the terms of the restructuring. Naftogaz said last week it is conducting negotiations with bilateral creditors to restructure its USD 1.6 bln in debt, including its USD 500 mln Eurobonds due on September 30.

Concorde Capital: The extension of a state guarantee will help Naftogaz to restructure its Eurobonds, but the coupon rate and other terms are not yet agreed upon. Naftogaz wants 9.5% and 5 years, while investors want 10-11% and 3-4 years. We think the final conditions will be somewhere in the middle.

Concorde Capital is a full service investment bank operating on the Ukrainian, Russian and CIS markets. In 2007 Concorde Capital’s analytical team was recognized as the Top Team covering Ukraine by Thomson Extel's Pan European Survey. Senior Analyst Alexander Paraschiy was recognized as the Leading Pan-European Investment Analyst – European Emerging Markets. Concorde Capital is a leader when it comes to private placements and M&A deals. Concorde Capital’s sale of a stake in Electron Bank to Volksbank International AG was named the Best Ukrainian M&A deal of the year 2007 by the Adam Smith Institute.