On 29 December 2006, Kazkommertsbank and Citibank Kazakhstan signed a Loan Agreement with the APK-Invest Corporation for a total of $10m. The agreement is intended to finance the purchase of grain from the 2005/2006 wheat crop which will be both exported and sold domestically. This short term loan was secured by grain receipts and future proceeds under export and trade contracts.

APK-Invest will use the loan to purchase grain from medium- and small-sized private farms to further sell it in both the domestic and foreign markets. APK-Invest is a major Kazkommertsbank’s client and one of the leaders in the Kazakhstan’s grain market.

Kazkommertsbank has been cooperating with, and supported the Kazakhstani agribusinesses over many years by providing loans to a wide range of clients so that they could develop their businesses and implement various investment projects. When structuring this agreement, a great deal of attention was paid to the peculiarities of agribusiness. According to Mr. A. Yakushev, Director of the Akmola branch, a flexible repayment schedule was suggested so that the client could redeem the loan using the proceeds from export and trade contracts.

‘I would like to emphasise that the loan was arranged by two major Kazakhstani banks, Kazkommertsbank and Citibank Kazakhstan, which act as co-lenders. Kazkommerstbank is also the security agent .. This partnership helped the client raise this loan on beneficial terms. Kazakhstani banks’ participation in pre-export financing of agribusinesses is a key factor in the implementation of the government programme to develop this sector,’ said Mr. Yakushev.

Mr. N. Tleubayev, Director of APK-Invest believes that agriculture is a high-priority and strategic industry of Kazakhstan, which impacts its economy significantly. Thanks to the climatic conditions, Kazakhstan has all the prerequisites to successfully develop the production and trade of domestic wheat. Therefore, Kazakhstani agribusinesses need to have a reliable access to the loan funds of national banks, which should be provided on reasonable conditions.

Because agriculture is an important economic sector of Kazakhstan in 2005 Citibank introduced a Programme for the Pre-Export Financing of Grain Purchases in Kazakhstan. This loan laid the foundation of this Programme. The current transaction illustrates how successful can be the partnership of Citigroup- who is world-wide market leader in Trade Finance with leading Kazakhstani bank. – KKB. Close cooperation of both banks and providing a bank-to-bank loan to KKB by Citibank enabled to arrange the best possible conditions to the client – APK. According to Mr. T. Bravenec, Vice President, Citigroup Global Transaction Services, Citibank will continue extending similar loans to other important Kazakhstani grain companies in 2006.

The APK-Invest Corporation is Kazkommertsbank is one of the leading Kazakhstani banks with assets exceeding $6.5bn.

Citibank Kazakhstan is _ a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup, providing fully-fledged corporate banking and transaction services to its customers in Kazakhstan since 1994.

Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services company has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citigroup (NYSE: C), the leading global financial services company has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management.