CAPITALIZATION OF ‘ARMROSGAZPROM’ CJSC WILL EXCEED $1,5BLN AT THE BEGINNING OF 2009

arminfo
2007-07-24 09:53:00

At the end of 2008 and at the beginning of 2009 the authorized capital
of Armenian-Russian "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC will amount to $850-900mln,
and the capitalization, according to the estimations of the company’s
specialists, will exceed $1,5bln, Chairman of the Board, Director
General of "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC Karen Karapetyan said on Monday.

According to him, from today on the company is preparing to start
Initial Public Offer. For that purpose international audit has already
been conducted in the company for 4 years. From the current year on
the "Ernst and Yang" company is conducting the audit. K. Karapetyan
recalled that "ArmRosgazprom" CSJS has already placed coupon
obligations in a 1bln AMD emission volume, with a circulation period
of 18 months and with 9% annual percentage rate. The emission volume
in 1bln AMD is a bit more than 0,5% of the company’s assets, the
Director General noted. He added that the company intends to emit
obligations with a volume of 5bln AMD in the nearest future.

Director of the Central Bank of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan said that the
emission of obligations of "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC arouse much interest in
the financial system of the country and, presently, the demand exceeds
the supply by several times. He added that "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC plans
to conduct a rating of the Central Bank’s enterprises, which will
give the commercial banks, interested in the company’s obligations,
an opportunity to transact deals with the Central Bank. In that way,
for the Central Bank will consider the obligations of "ArmRosgazprom"
CJSC as liquid assets and the latter will work with commercial banks
through REPO agreement, he clarified.

He noted that the entrance of such system forming structure as
"ArmRosgazprom" CJSC into the bond market is a guarantee for the
dynamic development of that market. He added that in the nearest
future two more of the best enterprises in Armenia will be involved
in the bond market. T.

Sargsyan expressed hope that, thanks to "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC’s
cooperation with Stockholm burse OMX, which plans to buy "Armenian
Stock Exchange", the company will start IPO. This will mean integrating
Armenian and world bond markets, he said.

To recall, "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC was founded in December 1997 and is
the exclusive importer of natural gas into Armenia. As a result of
"ArmRosgazprom" CJSC’s extra emission by $111,8 mln, the company’s
authorized capital increased from the former $280mln up to $391,8mln.

"Gazprom" JSC raised its share in "ArmRosgazprom" CJSC’s authorized
capital from the former 45% up to 57,59%. The share of the Armenian
Government in the company’s authorized capital, accordingly reduced
from 45% to 34,7%, and the share of "Itera" company reduced from the
former 10% up to 7,71%.