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ISLAMIC DEAL OF "BANK TURANALEM" JSC HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS "BEST DEAL OF THE YEAR 2007 in KAZAKHSTAN"

09.01.2008 / Press-service

The Islamic Finance News has awarded BTA’s USD 250 mln Syndicated Wakalah Facility in "Best Deal of the Year 2007: Kazakhstan" nomination

The transaction was launched in May 2007 for an amount of US$150 million with syndication being limited to a group of investors primarily in the Middle East and Malaysia and was signed on 10 July 2007. The syndication was very successful, having closed oversubscribed and as such Bank TuranAlem JSC elected to increase the facility amount to US$250 million. MLAs were Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC ("ADIB"), Barclays Capital и CIMB Bank (L) Limited ("CIMB"). The Facility tenor was 2 years, with the profit margin of 0.5% per annum.

A total of 14 financiers joined the Facility, out of which 4 were new names to Kazakhstan.Through this Facility the BTA has succeeded in again further broadening and diversifying its funding base and, in particular, has further developed its existing and prospective bank relationships in the Muslim world.

The key criteria for the award were:
A) The Facility is the largest Islamic Facility for a financial institution in Kazakhstan with Sharia-compliant structure and is the largest Islamic Financial Institution syndicated deal outside Middle East;
B) Margin offered for a transaction set a benchmark that was the lowest for a medium-term Islamic facility outside Middle East;
C) The proceeds raised under the Facility were deployed to finance of Bank TuranAlem JSC’s Islamic trade finance activities.
The award received has once again proved BTA’s leadership status as an Islamic "pioneer" on the Kazakhstan and CIS financial market. Awards ceremony in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur on the 26th Feb and 6th March respectively.

Islamic Finance News based in Kuala-Lumpur (Malaysia) was launched in 2004 with unrivaled editorial coverage of the global Islamic financing market with more than 19 000 subscribers.

Bank TuranAlem JSC (BTA) is among largest banks and leader in creation of banking network within CIS. According to tentative data, BTA consolidated assets soared by 47.4% over the first nine months of the year making USD24,087 million as of October 1, 2007, capital rose by 2.4 times to reach USD3,614 million. BTA cleared USD 487 million profit as of the reporting date, a double year-on-year increase.

BTA operating in the CIS and far-abroad countries is expanding into the CIS. Activities of its strategic bank partners cover Ukraine, 4 regions in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BTA also runs its representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, China and the United Arab Emirates.

In Kazakhstan, BTA’s networks consist of 22 branches and 260 cash settlement units.

Reputed Itogi magazine named Bank TuranAlem "Bank of the Year in CIS 2007" Meanwhile, Euromoney declared BTA as "Best Bank in Central Asia 2007". BTA also appears in the Banker’s TOP 300 and ranks the third in its Highest Movers rating. The Europe Business Assembly (EBA, Oxford, UK) has named BTA ‘the Best Enterprise of Europe’ in the Eurasian banking sector.