MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Rosbank said Thursday its net profits for January-March were 538.2 million rubles (almost $20 million), against a net loss of 146.8 million rubles ($5.4 million) in 1Q05.
The bank, one of Russia's largest, also said its net profits in 2005 were 1.973 billion rubles ($73 million), a drop of about 6% from 2.084 billion rubles ($77 million) in 2004.
Rosbank is planning to place 15-25% of its shares on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange and the London Stock Exchange by yearend. The two share issues may be held simultaneously, the bank said.
In January, the bank's Board of Directors also resolved to issue an additional 1 billion rubles worth of shares through open subscription. The bank is planning to float 100 million shares at par value of 10 rubles each.
In late March, Rosbank clinched a deal on a $150-million syndicated loan from international lenders for general corporate goals.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide $50 million for four years. A number of international banks will syndicate the remaining $100 million loan, which will mature in two years. The EBRD, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (Germany) and ING Bank N.V. (the Netherlands) will jointly manage the loan facility.
Rosbank, owned by financial holding Interros, is one of Russia's top thirty banks on a list published by the Central Bank. Shareholder equity as of January 1, 2006, was 20.4 billion rubles (about $713 million).
