OREANDA-NEWS. August 11, 2010. The Loan agreement between Zurcher Kantonalbank and Belarusbank for financing the delivery of 10 "Flirt" electric trains of Swiss company Stadler Bussnang AG to Belarusian Railway came into force. The project became a significant milestone in the history of Belarusbank's cooperation with financial institutions of Switzerland: total amount of the credit facility of Swiss bank exceeded EUR 61 mln, tenor of financing is 10 years. The facility was granted to Belarusbank under the insurance cover of Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV without the Guarantee of the Government of the Republic of Belarus in favour of the foreign bank.

Signing and coming into force of such a large loan agreement in short time became possible due to the perfect credit history of Belarusbank and well coordinated actions of the involved parties: ZKB, Belarusbank, Stadler Bussnang AG, Belarusian Railway and SERV.

Realization of such tremendous project with attractive conditions for Belarusian side evidences Belarusbank's reach of the principally new level of cooperation with the financial institutions of Switzerland that will help in providing Belarusian legal entities with the wide range of financing solutions for servicing trade turnover with Swiss enterprises.

Short overview:

Zurcher Kantonalbank is 100% owned by the canton of Zurich and is the largest cantonal bank (among 24 cantonal banks of Switzerland). The Bank was established in 1870. Zurcher Kantonalbank has the highest ratings among the world banks (Standard&Poor's - AAA, Fitch Rating - AAA, Moody's - Aaa).

Total amount of assets is about EUR 86 billion, net equity - EUR 5,7 billion, consolidated net income - about EUR 549 million.

Stadler Bussnang AG is a division of Stadler Rail Group. The company is founded in 1942 by Ernst Stadler. Headquarters are located in Switzerland, divisions of the Group are allocated throughout Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Algeria. Consolidated turnover of the Group exceeded EUR 800 million in 2009.

Inner city electric train traffic type "Flirt" (project)

Belarusian Railway started to function in 1862 when on the Belarusian land the first strip of truck-railway Petersburg-Warsaw was built. Belarusian Railway is a State union. At present Belarusian Railway operates at about 5,512.2 km of railroad. The turnover of goods for January-September 2009 exceeded 31 billion tonne-kilometers, the passenger turnover for the same period reached more than 5.7 billion passenger-kilometers.

Electric Train type "Flirt" by Stadler Bussnang AG is an electric train of the last generation. Such electric trains in comparison to the existing electric trains have faster dynamics of motion (accelerating and decelerating), have more doors and low level of the floor which will help to reduce the time of passengers entrance-exit. Capacity - up to 300 passengers, speed - up to 160 km/h.