MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - Ak Bars Bank, a leading banking institution in Russia, said Thursday it intended to take out a $50 million syndicated loan to finance its clients' trade contracts.
Ak Bars Bank, located in the Volga republic of Tatarstan, said it would authorize Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG (Austria) and the London branch of WestLB AG to syndicate the loan for a term of 18 months.
Ak Bars Bank is on a list of the country's top thirty banks. Its net assets totaled 78.3 billion rubles (about $2.9 billion) and its shareholder equity was 9.9 billion rubles (about $367 million) as of April 1, 2006.
The bank's key shareholder is oil company Tatneft [RTS:TATN], which holds 29.46% of its charter capital.