OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2011. Citi and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (“ICD”) acted as exclusive Joint Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, reported the press-centre of AK BARS Bank.

Eurasian Development Bank acted as Mandated Lead Arranger. Citi Islamic Investment Bank E.C. acted as Documentation Agent. Citibank International Plc acted as Investment Agent.

The syndicated Islamic financing facility will be available for AK BARS's Shariah compliant financing activities in Tatarstan and other regions of Russian Federation.

AK BARS Murabaha facility is the first international facility compliant with Sharia'h requirements arranged for a Russian financial institution and goes in line with the Islamic finance initiative announced by Tatarstan Republic earlier this year.

The transaction has attracted substantial interest among investors in Middle East and raised awareness on the Islamic investment community of Russia and specifically Tatarstan. ICD and Citi believe that this is an important and strategic deal that will help further develop Islamic financing in the Region.

AK BARS Bank’s CEO Robert Minnegaliev commented: “We are very thankful to all the participants of the Murabaha project that is truly important for AK BARS Bank, the Republic of Tatarstan and Russian banking sector. We highly appreciate the trust which has been shown to the Bank from the international financial institutions and we are confident that this transaction will be a key milestone in the strengthening of the cooperation between Russian banks and banks in the Middle East and Asia. This agreement is one of the steps in the development of Islamic finance in Russia, and we plan to allocate raised funds to develop Sharia’h compliant financial services.”