Vnesheconombank’s supervisory board regular meeting held

V.V. Putin’s opening address

Good afternoon esteemed colleagues.

Let’s remember once again about what we spoke in our report at the State Duma. As you know we spoke about large-scale development programs in the regions, various production sectors, the housing market, the industrial sector, infrastructure, modernization and launching of large-scale projects.

It’s quite evident that Vnesheconombank is supposed to play a key role in implementing all these plans acting as our leading development institution and consulting center and using its credit resources.

We also expect Russia’s Export Credit and Investment Insurance Agency to work effectively. I’d like to remind you that this Agency is being established in the form of a joint stock company with Vnesheconombank’s 100-percent participation. This new agency is designed to assist our exporters in tapping international markets and we should above all support exporters that operate in innovation sectors. The Government considered, prepared and submitted appropriate amendments to legislation to the State Duma.

At the same time, we have to address all organizational issues associated with the operation of the Russian Export Credit and Investment Insurance Agency and prepare a definitive strategy of its activity.

We have also to create additional instruments to raise capital for the Russian economy. It is for this purpose a Russian Fund of Direct Investments is being set up. We should discuss today an issue of establishing a special managing company for this Fund. The Fund will be responsible for raising foreign long-term investments for the Russian economy intended above all for such high-technology sectors (here I mean innovation projects) as power engineering, oil sector, space exploration, pharmaceutics and etc. The Fund’s managing company with a charter capital of 300 million rubles is to be founded by Vnesheconombank. And in its operation the Fund will be able to rely on Vnesheconombank’s financial and expert potential. In my opinion, this approach is bound to establish the Fund’s credibility with the international investment community and create favorable conditions for its start and further operation.

Besides these systems issues, we’ll also discuss a number of other purely production issues and among them I’d like to single out the one of a credit line worth 39 billion rubles intended for creating a joint venture between Ford and our Russian company Sollers that has been operating in the automotive industry for several years. This is a young company but it has been operating for several years and has shown itself to a good advantage. At our request, the company is expanding its production including as we know in the Far East.

I believe that the project in point is a very interesting, much needed initiative. The partnership between Russia’s company Sollers and Ford would make it possible to attract new technologies, significantly increase production facilities of the companies already operating successfully in various regions of the Russian Federation, for example in Tatarstan (the city of Elabuga) and in the Leningrad region. The credit resources we are to make available today will be used to increase production localization. This is fully in line with requirements the Russian Government formulates for our foreign partners. The money is to be used to set up the production of component base on the territory of our country. Suffice it to say that in the future the level of localization at Ford-Sollers joint venture is supposed to reach 60%.

The launch of such a large-scale project is especially important today against the backdrop of the Russian auto market growth. In the first quarter of this year the output of cars in our country increased by 2.2 times. And I’d also like to remind you that we made a decision to additionally fund the car utilization program. All these factors form a good basis for the launch of this new large-scale project.

Let’s get down to work.

Origin: Internet Portal of the Government of the Russian Federation

On Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board Decisions

VEB to start funding the construction of the Olympic Village

Novo-Ogarevo. April 22. INTERFAX – Vnesheconombank is to provide credit resources to fund the construction of the Olympic Village in Sochi, said Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev.

He reminded journalists on Friday that a credit line worth about 2 billion rubles to fund this project had already been opened. The funds are intended for performing pre-project work.

“Besides the money we have already provided under the last year’s decision the total amount is 15.5 billion rubles and at our today’s Supervisory Board meeting we made a decision to allocate 3 billion rubles so that we could start full-scale financing after agreeing upon security documents”, said V. Dmitriev after Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board meeting on Friday.

According to him the credit is to be extended at a refinancing rate of plus 0.4-1.4%.

Total budget of Ford-Sollers JV project to amount to 75 billion rubles. VEB to allocate 39 billion rubles

NOVO-OGAREVO, April 22 – RIA Novosti. Vnesheconombank is to extend a credit to establish a Ford-Sollers Joint Venture for an amount of 39 billion rubles for a period of 10 years at a refinancing rate of plus 2%, the project’s total budget is 75 billion rubles, Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev told journalists after Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board meeting.

“The funding provides for building several production facilities in three cities – Naberezhnye Chelny, Elabuga, Vsevolzhsk”, said Dmitriev.

He said that the parties’ participation share in the project to establish a Ford-Sollers Joint Venture is 50 to 50. And the property contribution of both parties is 18 billion rubles.

According to Dmitriev, the project’s implementation will result in building production facilities for manufacturing 350 thousand automobiles per year. Mr. Dmitriev also noted that a domestic competence would be created in engine-building.

VEB’s Chairman said that the project’s implementation would result in forming our own scientific-technical base in Tatarstan. He also stressed that in the course of the project’s implementation budgets of various levels would receive about 39 billion rubles and 3 thousand new jobs would be created.

According to him, in the near future Vnesheconombank intends to sign a memorandum with the project’s participants. The memorandum is to specify investment terms. He noted that the project’s details are being thoroughly studied. Dmitriev said that after completing the preparation of documents, “we would submit finalized financial terms of funding this project to Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board”.

Dmitriev also said that this credit should be extended at the most favorable interest rate. “Now we are discussing a refinancing rate of plus 2%”, said Vnesheconombank’s Chairman.

It became known in mid February that the Russian automaker and Italian Concern Fiat terminated their negotiations about establishing a joint venture which could have become the second largest player after AvtoVAZ on the Russian car market. The companies signed a memorandum on establishing a joint venture a year ago and at the beginning of July Sollers submitted an application to VEB for arranging a syndicated loan worth 2.1 billion euros to fund the project. Later on, the parties decided that they would implement their long-term strategies individually.

At the same time, Sollers was not left without a partner, on the same day the company announced the establishment of a joint venture in equal shares with Ford to manufacture and distribute Ford cars on the Russian market.

VEB’s Supervisory Board accepts founding documents from a managing company of a Direct Investments Fund

NOVO-OGAREVO, April 22 – RIA-Novosti. Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board accepted founding documents of a managing company of a Sovereign Direct Investments Fund, Vnesheconombank Vladimir Dmitriev told journalists after Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board meeting.

“Today we have discussed an issue of establishing a Direct Investments Fund and most importantly, a managing company of this Fund. This managing company is a legal entity - a limited liability company. On the whole, we accepted this institution’s founding documents but they will require some fine tuning”, Mr. Dmitriev told journalists adding that this would be done until this June.

Answering a question about who might be in charge of this institution, Mr. Dmitriev said that they had discussed worthy candidates known to the market.

“I think that in the most immediate future a surname of the managing company’s head will be made public”, said VEB’s Chairman.

A Fund of Direct Investments is scheduled to be established in the form of a closed mutual investment fund. This will be VEB’s 100-percent subsidiary company and its charter capital is to be formed through using federal budgetary funds. Its target amount is to be 10 billion dollars. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced an initiative to establish such a fund at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Fund will be responsible for raising long-term investments for the Russian economy, above all, for high-technology sectors and innovation projects in such industries as power engineering, the gas sector, pharmaceutics and space exploration.