NBD-Bank raised funds for regional business lending to the amount of RUR300 mln.

2th November, 2006 NBD-Bank signed an agreement on a syndicated loanextension worth RUR 300 mln. ZAO«Raiffeisenbank Austria» acted as Lead Arranger.

Loan tenor is 1 year with a prolongation option, provided by terms andconditions of the loan agreement, for the further 12 months. Theinterest rate was fixed at 11.00% p.a. In course of the syndicationoversubscription was about 50%, however the loan amount was left at theinitially declared level upon the borrower’s decision. NBD-Bank plans to receive the appropriated funds immediately at a full extent and to spend them on loans to the regional small and medium-sized businesses.

This is NBD-Bank''s first experience in acquiring funds from commercialbanks on the Russian syndicated loan market. The participants of thesyndication included the banks, interested in enlargement of theregional business finance and doing well in this direction. In additionto the Lead Arranger, the syndicate comprised JSC"Russian Bank forDevelopment" as a co-arranger. The lead managers are Joint-Stock Bank ofthe Gas Industry"GAZPROMBANK" (Closed Joint-Stock Company), ZAO"Denizbank Moscow", while the lead co-managers are Joint-StockCommercial Bank"National Reserve Bank" (Joint-Stock Company), JSCCommercial Bank"Center-invest" and Joint-Stock Commercial Bank"YapiKredi Bank Moscow" (Closed Joint-Stock Company). The manager of theloan is Joint-Stock West-Siberian Commercial Bank (Joint-Stock Company).

The importance of the signed agreement for NBD-Bank lies in the ideathat the agreement opened a new source of financing for small andmedium-sized businesses, along with deposits of private individuals andthe funds of international organizations and private western banks.

According to Evgeniy Maksakov, Head of Corporate Finance and ClientManagement of NBD-Bank, acquisition of the syndicated loan becamepossible due to sustainable development of the Bank and stable assetsand equity growth.«We are glad to have extended the possibilities for the regional enterprises business financing and for meeting their needs in ruble credit facilities», - said Evgeniy Maksakov. «In the future we give consideration to alternatives of new syndicated deals».

«This loan indicates not only the active growth of ruble syndicated loan market, but, not less important, the development of banking business and the Russian economy in general, that can be justified by capability and readiness of the Russian banks to invest in the regions andto develop actively their activity on the federal level», – noted Pavel Gourine, Deputy CEO of ZAO «Raiffeisenbank Austria».

JSC«NBD-Bank» started its operation in 1992. Nowadays this is a universal financial institution, which offers its services both to enterprises and private individuals. The primary business of NBD-Bank is focused on active support to the regional small and medium-sized businesses. The Bank develops and provides entrepreneurs with comprehensive programs for their business solutions, as well as recourses for the long-term projects implementation on part of the regional small and medium-sized enterprises.

NBD-Bank has the highest credit rating«ВВ-» among the regional banks of Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast, in the opinion of the independent agency «RusRating».

ZAO"Raiffeisenbank Austria" ranks the 8th position among the largestRussian banks in terms of assets volume based on Q2 2006 results (CEAInterfax). As of today the Bank has 19 offices in Moscow, 5 offices inSaint-Petersburg and regional branches in Ekaterinburg, Samara,Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Krasnodra, Krasnoyarsk andPerm. In terms of corporate loan portfolio Raiffeisenbank is on the 9thposition under the results of Q2 2006 (CEA Interfax). In 2005-2006 ZAO"Raiffeisenbank Austria" acted as a Lead Arranger of syndicated loansfor Russian borrowers in the field of retail trade, fuel and powerindustry, metallurgy, commercial real estate, telecommunications andbanking services for a total of about USD 4.2 bln.

ZAO Raiffeisenbank Austria is a subsidiary of Raiffeisen InternationalBank-Holding AG (Raiffeisen International) that operates subsidiarybanks and leasing companies in 16 markets in Central and Eastern Europe.11 million customers are attended through more than 2,700 businessoutlets. Raiffeisen International is a fully consolidated subsidiary ofRaiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB), which owns 70 per cent ofthe common stock, the remaining 30 per cent is free float and the sharesare traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange. RZB is a leading corporate andinvestment bank in Austria and the central institution of the AustrianRaiffeisen Banking Group, the country''s largest banking group.