OREANDA-NEWS.  January 30, 2008.   Bank of Moscow has announced the purchase of 50% of the shares in ОАО KAB Bezhitsa-Bank. In January, 2008, Bezhitsa-Bank put through an additional share issue to bring the authorised equity capital of this credit institution up to 100 million roubles and its equity funds up to over 200 million roubles.

During the additional issue, Bank of Moscow became the owner of 50% of the shares in Bezhitsa-Bank. Let us note that Bank of Moscow’s plans are to raise its ownership interest in the capital of Bezhitsa-Bank to 90%.

As of today, the net assets of Bezhitsa-Bank exceed 800 million roubles and its balance sheet profit for 2007 amounted to 13 million roubles. According to the results for last year, Bezhitsa’s key indicators rose by 40%.

"In order to maintain such a high growth rate, we do not exclude the possibility of another additional issue", says Bank of Moscow Vice-President Alexey Sytnikov. "I believe that, after the additional issue, the equity funds of Bezhitsa-Bank will rise to 250-300 million roubles".