OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2011. JSC BTA Bank is pleased to announce that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) granted BTA’s motion to close BTA’s proceedings under chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (“Chapter 15”) and granted a permanent injunction against actions in the U.S. which violate the terms of the restructuring plan approved by the Specialised Financial Court of Almaty in the Bank’s restructuring proceedings in Kazakhstan.

The Bankruptcy Court had previously issued an order on 2 March 2010 (the “Recognition Order”) granting an application for recognition of BTA’s Kazakh restructuring proceeding as a “foreign main proceeding” under Chapter 15.

The Recognition Order imposed a stay on, among other things, any proceedings against BTA or against its property in the U.S. The injunction issued by the Bankruptcy Court on 6 January has made permanent the stay in relation to debts discharged by BTA’s restructuring plan and blocks any attempts to enforce such debts against BTA or its property in the United States.

Although the U.S. permanent injunction prevents parties from taking action in the United States against BTA in relation to obligations restructured pursuant to BTA’s restructuring plan, it does not prevent parties from enforcing in any appropriate forum rights granted pursuant to BTA’s restructuring plan.

In light of the U.S. permanent injunction and the order of the High Court of England and Wales obtained by BTA on 16 August 2010, BTA’s restructuring plan has now obtained the permanent protection of the courts in both the U.K. and the United States with the result that actions inconsistent with the plan are now barred in both countries.