OREANDA-NEWS. June 08, 2010. JSC BTA Bank (the “Bank”) is delighted to announce that its Restructuring Plan relating to KZT 2,442 billion (USD 16.65 billion) of the Bank’s financial indebtedness was today approved at the Claimant’s Meeting in Almaty by Claimants holding KZT 2,247.4 billion of the Bank’s financial indebtedness (representing 92.03 per cent. of the total financial indebtedness subject to the Restructuring).

Votes were cast by Claimants with Claims arising from all the debt instruments of the Bank, including domestic and international bonds, bilateral and syndicated loans, Islamic finance instruments, trade finance agreements and derivative financial instruments.

Pursuant to the Bank Restructuring Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Restructuring Plan was required to be approved by Claimants holding not less than two thirds of the Bank’s financial liabilities to be effective. Thus, the Restructuring Plan of BTA Bank has been fully approved by the Claimants.

As a result of the Restructuring, the financial indebtedness of the Bank shall be reduced from USD 12.2 billion to USD 4.4 billion and the maturity of such debt shall be extended to between eight and 20 years. This will be achieved by the cancellation or restructuring of all outstanding Claims, in consideration of which Claimants will receive cash, shares in the Bank and newly issued bonds of the Bank. After the Restructuring, the Bank’s equity capital will be restored to a level sufficient to comply with all applicable capital adequacy ratios of the FMSA and other regulatory bodies.

Following the Restructuring, domestic and international Claimants will become shareholders of the Bank, holding between them approximately 18.5 per cent. of the Bank’s share capital. Samruk-Kazyna will continue to be the Bank’s major shareholder, owning approximately 81.5 per cent. of the Bank’s share capital.

The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Anvar Saidenov, has commented on approval of the Restructuring Plan by Claimants of BTA Bank as follows: “We are pleased that the extensive work we have done during all these months has been rewarded by successful outcome of the Claimants’ Meeting. Considering the large number of parties involved, we cannot say that the Restructuring process has been easy but we used our best endeavours to take into account the interests of all the parties and to satisfy them as far as possible. A feasible Restructuring Plan of the Bank is the result of the joint efforts of both the Bank’s management team and the Steering Committee, and the majority of our Claimants have voted in favour of it. I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the FMSA and to all our advisors, whose professionalism and experience have proven to be invaluable to the Bank during the Restructuring process. We would also like to thank all of our customers and partners for their strong and continuing support of the Bank during this difficult time.”

The Bank’s financial advisors in the restructuring were Lazard Freres and UBS AG and its legal advisors were White & Case LLP.

Terms used in this press release and defined in the Information Memorandum of the Bank dated 1 May 2010, as supplemented, are used in this press release as so defined.