Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Head of ‘Valletta’ LLC considers the fact of successful repayment of
first tranche of corporate bonds unprecedented

2009-02-06 18:36:00

ArmInfo. The redemption of `Valletta’ LLC’s first-issue bonds worth a
total of 350 mln AMD has become an unprecedented event in the financial
market of Armenia, Director of `Valletta’ LLC Shahen Stepanyan told
journalists and stressed that the company continues its multi-sectoral
activity and doesn’t rule out holding the fourth issue of corporate
bonds. According to him, at the moment Armenia’s economy is unstable,
but even under these conditions the company carries out its obligations
before all the creditors contentiously. In this respect, this is
unprecedented, he said. Stepanyan also expressed hope that the second
and third issues of corporate bonds will be redeemed with similar
success.

As Financial Director of `Valletta’ LLC Armen Berberyan said, due to
attraction of resources from the bond market the company managed to
implement projects which provided it with 20-25% profit. He also
stressed that the pledge of successful redemption of the first-issue
corporate bonds is also the cooperation with ArmSwissBank, the
underwriter of all the three issues of `Valletta’ LLC. According to
Berberyan, the further activity of the company is not restricted to
this purposeful step. `Valletta’ has numerous development programs to
implement.

Director of the Investment Department of ArmSwissBank CJSC Karen Turyan
said that in the previous 1.5 years the amount of transactions with
`Valletta”s bonds totalled 750mln AMD. The bonds were received by
ArmSwissBank and the Central Bank as a reliable REPO instrument. The
amount of REPO transactions with `Valletta”s bonds totalled 282mln AMD.

Berberyan said that it was early yet to speak about the terms of the
new issue. "Everything depends on the situation on the market but there
will be little difference between the terms of the old and the new
issues." By issuing bonds Valletta not only attracts financial
resources but also involves wide public in its development projects.

To note, the primary placement of non-documentary registered coupon
bonds of this issue of `Valletta’LLC was held from July 31, 2007 to
August 13, 2007. In particular, 7,000 bonds at par value of 50,000
drams each, annual return of 10,5% and 18-month circulation period were
placed. Coupon payments were carried out once per half year.

To recall, the second and the third issues of corporate bonds of
`Valletta’ LLC are presently itemized in the exchange lists. In
particular, primary placement of the second issue of non-documentary
coupon bonds of `Valletta’ LLC in the volume of 500 mln drams was held
on November 12, 2007. The par value of each bond makes up 50,000 drams
(10,000 bonds), circulation period – 24 months, return on
coupons – 10,5%, coupon payments are carried out once per half year.

Non-documentary registered bonds of the third issue in the similar
volume (500 mln drams) were placed in the primary market on July 28,
2008, within the frames of which 10,000 bonds number with 36-month
circulation period, par value of 50,000 drams each, return of 11% and
the term of coupon payments once per half year.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian kingpin killed in Moscow
07.02.2009 15:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian lord of the underworld Alik Minalyan, 36,
better known as Alik Sochinsky, was shot dead on Friday evening in
Moscow, Prime Crime reports.

The killer shot down Minalyan, threw the gun away and escaped in
VAZ-2109 car.

The driver of Mercedes, Hovhannes Poghosyan, who brought Minalyan
home, received a wound into his back and was taken to hospital.

, Turkey
Feb 7 2009

Turkish FM meets Armenian counterpart in Germany

Turkish FM spokesman said that Babacan and Nalbandian were quite
productive talks.

Saturday, 07 February 2009 17:41

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who is currently in Munich,
Germany, to attend the 45th Munich Security Conference, has met with
President Serzh Sargsian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian of
Armenia.

Burak Ozugergin, spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, said, "Babacan met with his Armenian counterpart
Nalbandian. Later, he paid a visit of courtesy to President
Sargsian. They were quite productive talks. These talks aim at
normalizing the relations between Turkey and Armenia."

He said that Babacan also came together with U.S. Vice President Joe
Biden and held bilateral talks with his German, Finnish and Estonian
counterparts.

AA

PROCREDIT BANK OF ARMENIA TO OPEN UP TO SEVEN NEW BRANCHES IN 2009

ARKA
Feb 6, 2009

YEREVAN, February 6. /ARKA/. ProCredit Bank of Armenia is planning to
open up to seven new branches in 2009 to ensure greater accessibility
for its clients in the capital and in the regions.

Last year the bank opened five branches with four of them in Yerevan
and a branch in Vanadzor, the bank’s press service reported.

Currently the bank’s staff is 200 people providing high-quality
services to clients.

ProCredit Bank started its activities in Armenia one year ago.

Over the last 12 months funds attracted from clients totaled $9.3mln
with number of bank accounts reaching 6,700. Most part of clients has
their money on savings and time deposits; 80% of these are amounts
not exceeding $1,000.

This indicates that the bank is trying to be accessible for common
citizens and give them an opportunity to use banking services, says
the report.

According to the press release, ProCredit Bank will maintain its
focus on extending credits to small and medium business as this
creates the greatest number of jobs and promotes economic development
substantially.

Credit portfolio of the bank had totaled $24mln by the end of 2008;
90% of business loans extended by the bank were small loans not
exceeding $10,000.

The bank also continues developing savings culture in Armenia as
savings are means of strengthening the households, says the report.

Executive Director of ProCredit Bank Berthold Hertzfeld pointed out
that banks of ProCredit Holding AG Group became not only leaders
in financing of small and medium enterprises all over the world,
but also reliable partners for private entrepreneurs

ProCredit Bank has the same purpose in Armenia, Hertzfeld said adding
that the bank will continue offering simple and high-quality banking
services.

ProCredit Bank closed joint stock company officially started its
activities in Armenia on February 5 2008. The founders of the bank
are ProCredit Holding AG joint stock company (67.49%), KfW Development
Bank (15.84%) and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development
(16.67%).

The bank’s assets had totaled 6.2bln Drams by the end of December 2008
with total capital amounting to 5.5bln Drams. ($1-305.29Drams).

INITIATIVE TO CONVENE RA NA SPECIAL SESSION FAILS

Noyan Tapan

Feb 5, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 4, the RA NA Zharangutiun
(Heritage) faction started collecting deputies’ signatures to convene a
special NA session at 18:30, February 5. It was planned discussing the
issue of invalidating the NA March 4 decisions on giving consent to RA
Prosecutor General’s petition to involve deputies Myasnik Malkhasian,
Sasun Mikayelian, Hakob Hakobian, and Khachatur Sukiasian as defendants
on the 2008 March 1 events and arresting them.

3 out of 4 deputies being under arrest at present were first to sign
under that form officially received from the NA staff. Faction head
Armen Martirosian had visited the place of imprisonment for that
purpose. In the term established by the NA Regulations, until 11:48,
February 5 the Zharangutiun faction members, independent deputy
Viktor Dallakian, and former NA Speaker Tigran Torosian had signed
under the form. And for convening a special session, at least 1/3
of the total number of deputies, 44 deputies, were to sign under it,
whole only 11 deputies had signed.

SOCIAL OUTBREAK POSSIBLE

A1+
[07:07 pm] 05 February, 2009

For some unknown reason, the Euro exchange rate goes down, while the
dollar remains the same during this global economic meltdown.

"It is senseless to find logic when discussing any process taking place
in Armenia because only subjective factors are at work. Somebody makes
the decision," told "A1+" economist, former head of the Central Bank
Bagrat Asatryan. According to him, the fixed dollar rate is kept at
305 drams, while the Euro goes along with the processes taking place
in the global market.

Why did they decide to keep the dollar rate stable? In response,
Bagrat Asatryan said:

"They’re not thinking ahead. The Armenian economy has traditionally
used the foreign exchange rate, although a large part of our foreign
trade is in Euros."

The National Assembly and the government don’t plan to revise the
budget. Why aren’t they doing what other countries find necessary?

"First of all, they are certain that they will implement all programs
and secondly, they don’t care about the budget thinking that it is
not going to have an effect," said Bagrat Asatryan. Former head of
the Central Bank thinks that a social outbreak is possible in an
unfavorable political situation like the one in Armenia.

The country was faced with a social-economic crisis in the 90s too, but
back then people overcame that crisis because, according to experts,
they had expectations, there was confidence, but that turned into
distrust in the government.

"Now we see apathy and anger conditioned by the political
situation. Before, people found the solution by moving to a foreign
country. Now, Armenia is turning into a closed sector where the steam
is rising and a way out of the situation is change of power through
normal elections. Our authorities did not consider that a way out
of the situation and told people that they had to cope with their
government, plus the murders of last year. The denial of the existence
of one sector, keeping hundreds of people locked up in jail-these
are the factors that prepare grounds for extreme manifestations,"
told "A1+" Bagrat Asatryan.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL THINK THIS TIME
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
11:58:41 – 04/02/2009

To some extent, the response of both the society and the government to
the assassination of the deputy chief of the Police Gevorg Mheryan is
clear and predictable. The society must say or think that unfortunately
this assassination once again proved what kind of country Armenia is,
how free the criminals act there, what the climate of permissiveness
is when no small or big incident, either an assault or a murder, is
revealed, what happens when the law enforcers are busy repressing
political dissent rather than controlling the state of crime in
the country. The government must naturally get angry, the president
must hit his feast against the table and say enough, the case must
be revealed immediately and the wrongdoers must be punished, it is
necessary to raise the effectiveness of the work of the law enforcers,
and so on.

Almost the same was the response of the government to the assassination
of Shahen Hovasapyan, the head of one of the divisions of the State
Tax Service. As you can see, the next was Gevorg Mheryan. It is
difficult to tell what will happen after Mheryan’s murder. Perhaps
the law enforcers will start repressing political dissent with
greater ardor. What else can the law enforcers do when they get one
instruction in front of the TV cameras and another instruction behind
the TV cameras? Lik e Shahen Hovasapyan’s murder, most probably
Gevorg Mheryan’s murder will not be revealed fully either, and the
society will never know who gave the order. At least, the precedents
make think so. It is even difficult to tell why a scandalous murder
is not revealed, our law enforcement system is not professional,
unable to make revelations, or the reason is that the law-enforcement
system gets quite other instructions to act. Will the system get the
instruction of revealing this murder fully?

It is also clear that many representatives of the government will soon
start telling the society that there is no need to make far-fetched
conclusions from one murder that Armenia is overwhelmed with crime,
and nobody is punished for misdeeds because scandalous murders happen
even in calmest countries, such as Sweden, where many years ago the
prime minister was killed on leaving the theater. The government has
such spokesmen who are able to make such cynical comparisons with
a serious expression on their face. In addition, for the state and
the society, the bounty killers at large are perhaps less dangerous
than these spokesmen because the freedom of bounty killers is the
consequence of the unrestricted presence of these figures.

On the other hand, cynical and strange though our observation may
seem, it is also possible that the criminals are not unpunished and
uncontrolled. And life in Armenia in the past few years is evidence
that this observation is more likely to be true. In other words, in
Armenia the criminals may be under the control of the government and
do what the government or separate groups of the government need. In
any case, it is obvious that either the government in Armenia can
do nothing about the criminals or the criminals are the government,
that is the government and the criminals act together.

There seems to be no other option, at least the activities of the
government do not allow considering a fourth option. In addition,
it is not news, simply more evidence comes, unfortunately.

CORPORATE BONDS OF HSBC BANK ARMENIA LISTED BY NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA STOCK EXCHANGE

ARKA
Feb 4, 2009

YEREVAN, February 4. /ARKA/. Corporate coupon bonds of HSBC Bank
Armenia have passed listing at NASDAQ OMX Armenia Stock Exchange on
Tuesday and included in the Bbond list, the stock exchange’s press
office reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, all 10,000 bonds worth AMD 100,000 each
were listed.

The maturity term is 365 days. Annual interest rate of a coupon is
set at 9%.

HSBC Bank Armenia, subsidiary of HSBC Bank plc, was registered on
September 25, 1995.

HSBC Bank plc holds 70% of the shares of HSBC Bank Armenia and 30%
belong to overseas Armenian investors.

HSBC Bank Armenia is a member of NASDAQ OMX Armenia.

The bank’s assets totaled AMD 121.8 billion and liabilities AMD 106.3
billion by December 31, 2008.

The bank’s total capital is AMD 15.5 billion.

Net profit for Jan/Dec 2008 amounted to AMD 3.9 billion.

Credit investments totaled AMD 71.8 billion by late December 2008
against AMD 52.6 billion earlier that year.

Armenian Stock Exchange (Armex) renamed NASDAQ OMX Armenia in January
2008 was established in 2001 as voluntary merger of 21 broker (dealer)
companies.

In November 2007, Armex was reorganized into an open joint stock
company.

In January 2008, OMX, Scandinavian stock exchange operator, bought 100%
of Armenian Stock Exchange and Central Depository’s shares.

After NASDAQ and OMX merger in March 2008, the company NASDAQ OMX
Group, Inc became the sole holder of Armenian Stock Exchange and
Central Depository’s shares.

23 securities underwent registration and listing on Armenian Stock
Exchange by January 26, 2009.

Capitalization of Armex amounted to AMD 53.6 billion. ($1 = AMD
305.19).

Earthtimes (press release), UK
Jan 30 2009

Erdogan’s fiery remarks hurting Turkish-Israeli ties – Feature

Posted : Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:59:55 GMT
Author : DPA

Ankara – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of
the harshest critics of Israel’s recent military operations in the
Gaza Strip but he surprised all observers with his remarkably fiery
remarks made Thursday night at a panel discussion with Israel’s
President Shimon Peres. "You (Israel) know very well how to kill
people," an enraged Erdogan said to Peres at the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland. "Your raising your voice (to me) shows the
psychology of the guilty."

"You killed people," Erdogan said, adding "the Sixth Commandment says,
‘Thou shall not kill.’"

After being cut off by the moderator and complaining that Peres had
been allowed more time to speak, Erdogan stormed out of the panel
discussion saying "for me Davos is finished."

Word of Erdogan’s explosive speech spread quickly in Turkey and
thousands of people gathered at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in the
early hours of Friday morning to welcome home what one banner
described as "the conquer of Davos."

From the first day of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza Erdogan has
been a loud critic, condemning Israel’s "disproportionate use of
force," saying the operation was a "crime against humanity" and a
"stain on history’s page."

The prime minister’s forceful statements and anti-Semitism on show at
protests around Turkey were enough to alarm US Jewish lobbying groups
to issue a public appeal to Erdogan.

"Our Jewish friends in Turkey feel besieged and threatened. A
connection is clearly perceived between the inflammatory denunciation
of Israel by Turkish officials and the rise of anti-Semitism," the
leaders of five US Jewish lobby groups said in an open letter to
Erdogan.

At various protests around Turkey demonstrators have shouted
anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans. A group of nationalists in
Eskisehir made headlines when they hung a sign outside their office
which read "dogs allowed, Armenians and Jews cannot enter."

Facing increased criticism from abroad as well as from liberals in the
Turkish press, Erdogan in recent days had toned down his remarks and
has specifically condemned anti-Semitism.

In an attempt to distance the government from its perceived pro- Hamas
line, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan earlier this week told reporters
that Hamas needed to decide whether it wants to be an armed group or a
political party. It was a line that Erdogan repeated Thursday night in
Davos.

In recent years Turkey has attempted to use its position in having
good ties with both Israel and its fellow Muslim nations in the Middle
East to play the role of mediator but Erdogan’s statements appear to
have undermined that aim.

"We have lost the impartiality we had between Hamas and Fatah, as well
as between Syria and Israel," retired diplomat Inal Batu was quoted in
Hurriyet newspaper on Friday.

After their heated debate Thursday night Peres telephoned Erdogan and
apologized for raising his voice. Erdogan in turn has said that his
walking out of the debate was in protest at the moderator, not at
Peres. The diplomatic spinning has started but there is no doubt that
Turkish-Israeli ties have been hurt.

445,erdogans-fiery-remarks-hurting-turkish-israeli -ties–feature.html

Troika Dialog seeks to raise capital

Financial Times
January 28, 2009

By Catherine Belton in Moscow and Tom Burgis in Johannesburg

Troika Dialog, Russia’s second-biggest investment bank, is seeking to
raise capital, possibly through an equity sale, Ruben Vardanyan, Troika
Dialog’s main owner, said.

Mr Vardanyan declined to comment on reports in Vedomosti, the FT’s
Russian sister paper on Wednesday that Troika was in talks to sell a 30
per cent stake in itself to South Africa’s Standard Bank. But he told
the Financial Times that the bank was `looking at all possible variants’
for raising financing either through ‘long-term debt financing or by
bringing in investors’. He declined to name the sum the bank was seeking
to raise.

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank, also declined to comment on
possible talks, saying only that it was continuously assessing
`acquisition or growth opportunities’ in Russia as an important
strategic market it has been present in for more than 10 years.

Any sale of equity in Troika Dialog would follow the hasty sale of a 50
per cent stake in Renaissance Capital, Russia’s largest investment bank,
for $500m to Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, at the height
of Russia’s market collapse in September.

Rumours had swept the market that Troika could be forced to sell a stake
too but Mr Vardanyan had insisted he was not in talks to sell his bank.

Speaking from Davos, where Troika is to host an ice skating extravaganza
on Friday evening, Mr Vardanyan said on Wednesday that the bank was not
seeking to cover any losses as a result of Russia’s market fall.

Russian brokerages were hit hard as investors pulled money out of the
market last autumn triggering a wave of margin calls on loans backed by
shares in blue chip stocks that helped send the market tumbling down
more than 70 per cent.

Liquidity dried up amid a crisis of confidence after one Russian
brokerage, KIT Finance, failed to meet obligations on share repurchasing
deals. The government opened a 60bn rouble credit line to help restore
liquidity to brokerages.

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