BTAS declassata a D da S&P e Fitch

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La ex TuranAlem Bank primaria banca del Kazakhstan è formalmente in default.

Kazakh BTA Bonds Tumble as Payments Halted, Fitch Calls Default
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By Emma O’Brien and Laura Cochrane

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- BTA Bank bonds plunged to a record low 21 cents on the dollar after Kazakhstan’s largest lender stopped principal payments on its debt and Fitch Ratings downgraded it to “restricted default.”

The bank’s $600 million of 7.875 percent dollar bonds due 2010 slumped from 26.183 cents yesterday, according to ING Groep NV prices compiled by Bloomberg. The securities were trading at 61 cents as recently as February. The Almaty-based bank has $12.2 billion of outstanding principal due on its bonds, including $438 million maturing this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“If BTA doesn’t present something solid in terms of restructuring by next week their bonds may as well sink into single-digit prices,” said Luis Costa, an emerging markets fixed-income strategist for Commerzbank AG in London. “The longer it takes to clarify it, the higher the pressure.”

BTA, which was taken over by the government in February, stopped principal payments on its debt after receiving notices from creditors accelerating the facilities they’re owed “by reason of default,” according to an e-mailed statement late yesterday. The bank is in talks with Moscow-based OAO Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, on selling a 53 percent stake, RIA Novosti reported today, citing a person familiar with the negotiations it didn’t identify.

Raushan Nayzabayeva, a spokeswoman for BTA Bank, declined to comment on the RIA report when contacted by Bloomberg News.

‘Big Positive’

“Selling a stake to Sberbank would clearly be a big positive, but I wouldn’t be surprised that developments on that front are contingent on the creditor side,” said Ian McCall, who helps manage $800 million of emerging-market debt at Argo Capital Management Ltd. in London. “BTA already has a deep- pocketed shareholder in the form of the Kazakh government, but this would be seen as a new source of capital to support them as they go forward.”

BTA will continue to make interest payments on its debt, the statement said. Fitch’s downgrade of the bank’s long-term issuer rating to RD, which puts BTA four levels below its previous rating of CC, will remain in place until the company has completed its restructuring of outstanding debt and is able to comply with the new terms demanded by its creditors, the ratings firm said in a statement.

“BTA is wrestling with what it should do with its debt obligations as creditors try to accelerate,” McCall said. “There is a lot of bad news already priced into the bonds, but there has been further selling today.”

BTA was taken over by Kazakhstan’s National Wellbeing Fund Samruk-Kazyna in February after the bank couldn’t raise money to bolster reserves to a level requested by the government. The bank said April 3 it had convinced creditors not to demand early repayment of its debts and that it still intends to repay them on time and in full.

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Kazakh Prosecutors Seize Cars, 825 Apartments in BTA Bank Case
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By Nariman Gizitdinov

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Prosecutors in Kazakhstan said they seized 825 apartments in an unfinished residential complex, eight offices and 25 cars belonging to suspects accused of embezzling from BTA Bank, the country’s largest lender.

The Prosecutor General’s Office also filed 19 lawsuits in an Almaty court seeking to recover more than 100 billion tenge ($664 million) lost by BTA and property provided as collateral for loans from the bank, including three airplanes and land in the Moscow region, the agency said on its Web site today.

On March 6, prosecutors issued international arrest warrants for former BTA Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov and some of his associates for allegedly stealing from BTA and laundering the money via loans to fictitious companies. BTA former Chief Executive Officer Roman Solodchenko was added to the wanted list on March 21.

Ablyazov on April 1 said the charges against him are “fabricated.” Solodchenko’s mobile phone was turned off when Bloomberg News tried to reach him for comment.

BTA, in which the state’s National Wellbeing Fund Samruk- Kazyna holds a 75.1 percent stake, had a loss of 261.5 billion tenge in the first quarter as it boosted reserves against bad loans, according to the Financial Supervision Agency.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government has spent more than 716 billion tenge supporting banks amid the worst economic crisis in a decade, including the February takeover of BTA. The economy of Kazakhstan shrank a preliminary 2 percent in the first quarter, Economy Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said yesterday.

32 Suspects

Prosecutors have identified 32 suspects in the BTA embezzlement case and have issued international arrest warrants for 11 of them. Three of Ablyazov’s associates have been detained, prosecutors said.

Kazakh courts have ruled in favor of prosecutors in three lawsuits, awarding more than 30 billion tenge to BTA, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Last month, the agency said it had seized more than 1.29 billion tenge and $1 million stolen by or belonging to suspects, along with three planes, 106 plots of land and 86 apartments, among other assets.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported in February that Ablyazov may lose his development business in Russia as BTA reappraised the value of property he used as collateral for an $800 million loan.

Ablyazov signed over about 2,500 hectares (6,177 acres) in the Moscow suburb of Domodedovo, where his OOO Eurasia City developer planned to build a community for 150,000 people, to BTA to secure the loan. Ablyazov said he no longer has “any relation to Eurasia” and doesn’t know who owns the developer, Kommersant said.

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Kazkommertsbank Jumps After Posting Only Profit of Kazakh Banks
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By William Mauldin

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan’s second-largest lender, rose the most in one month in London after the company posted the only first-quarter profit among the country’s five largest banks.

The bank had net earnings of 97,000 tenge ($644) in the first quarter, the country’s Financial Supervision Agency said. Rivals including BTA Bank and Alliance Bank reported net losses.

Kazkommertsbank’s global depositary receipts climbed as much as 25 percent to $4, the biggest gain in intraday trading since March 12. They traded at $3.35 as of the close in London, an increase of 4.7 percent from the previous day.

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BTA Bank Lost $1.74 Billion in First Quarter on Loan Reserves
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By Nariman Gizitdinov

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- BTA Bank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, had a loss of 261.5 billion tenge ($1.74 billion) in the first quarter as it boosted reserves against bad loans.

BTA “increased provisions” in the first quarter, causing the loss, Madina Imanaliyeva, a spokeswoman for the Almaty-based lender, said by phone today. She declined to elaborate.

Yelena Bakhmutova, head of the Financial Supervision Agency, said today that BTA may go bankrupt without “debt modification,” since the quality of its credit portfolio is “deteriorating.”

The bank, in which the state’s National Wellbeing Fund Samruk-Kazyna holds a 75.1 percent stake, had assets of 3.8 trillion tenge as of April 1 against liabilities of 3.4 trillion tenge, the Financial Supervision Agency reported on its Web site.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government has spent more than 716 billion tenge supporting banks amid the worst economic crisis in a decade, including the February takeover of BTA. The state also bought stakes in Kazkommertsbank and Halyk Savings Bank, the country’s second- and third-largest lenders.

The economy of Kazakhstan shrank a preliminary 2 percent in the first quarter, Economy Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said yesterday. The Central Asian country, which has 3.2 percent of the world’s oil reserves according to BP Plc, devalued the tenge by 21 percent against the dollar on Feb. 4 after oil prices dropped 67 percent in six months.

Lending Rules

The government plans to toughen rules for lending in a bid to end a banking crisis “that hasn’t hit bottom” yet, Bakhmutova said. The watchdog wants banks to limit lending to 150 percent of deposits and cut debt to foreign creditors to 30 percent from 41 percent at the start of the month.

Kazakhstan’s 37 banks lost a total of 296.6 billion tenge in the first quarter, the Financial Supervision Agency said.

Kazkommertsbank, the country’s second-largest, was the only bank in the top five to report a profit -- 97,000 tenge -- in the first quarter. Third-ranked Halyk Savings Bank had a loss of 13.9 billion tenge, followed by Alliance Bank with a loss of 19.4 billion tenge and ATF Bank, UniCredit SpA’s Kazakh unit, with a 2.6 billion tenge loss.

Halyk’s reported loss is based on unconsolidated and unaudited results, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Dauren Karabayev said by phone. The loss resulted primarily from increased provisions against bad loans, a policy agreed with the National Wellbeing Fund, he said. The fund owns 20.9 percent of the bank’s common shares, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

‘Profit Column’

Halyk will set aside money equal to 17.4 percent of all outstanding loans this year, up from 10.9 percent now, Karabayev said.

“Halyk will move this money back into the profit column when the economic situation improves, though this won’t happen soon,” Karabayev said.

Kazakhstan’s banks had set aside 1.5 trillion tenge as of March 1 against foreign-currency loans because of the devaluation of the tenge and a “significant” increase in reserves “by one bank,” the Financial Supervision Agency said.

Bakhmutova said banks may increase their bad-loan provisions to 20 percent of loan portfolios this year, up from 14.6 percent as of March 1.

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BTA Can’t Survive Without ‘Debt Modification,’ Regulator Says
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By Nariman Gizitdinov

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- BTA Bank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, will go bankrupt without “debt modification,” the country’s financial regulator said.

“The quality of BTA’s credit portfolio is deteriorating,” Yelena Bakhmutova, head of the Financial Supervision Agency, said at a conference in Almaty today.

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Kazakhstan to Limit Lending as Bank Crisis ‘Hasn’t Hit Bottom’
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By Nariman Gizitdinov

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan plans to toughen rules for lending in a bid to end a banking crisis “that hasn’t hit bottom” yet, said Yelena Bakhmutova, head of the country’s Financial Supervision Agency.

The watchdog wants banks to limit lending to 150 percent of deposits and cut debt to foreign creditors to 30 percent from 41 percent at the start of the month, Bakhmutova said at a conference in the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty today.

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BTA on the ropes, Sberbank deal dead, criminal investigation into management launched


Clare Nuttall in Almaty, Ben Aris in Moscow
March 26, 2009


Kazakhstan's biggest bank BTA is on the ropes and maybe going down for the count. Criminal charges have been brought against its top managers and the former CEO is on the run from the law, after skipping the country last week. At the same time, bne sources in Almaty and Moscow say that a trumpeted acquisition of the bank by Russia's Sberbank is dead in the water.

This week, the Kazakh Prosecutor General's office a launched criminal investigation into the work of BTA's top management. The former head of BTA's board of directors and majority owner of the bank, Mukhtar Ablyazov, has been charged this week with creating and masterminding a criminal group, according to the Prosecutor General's office. Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov, previously the first deputy chairman of the bank's management board, faces similar charges.

At a press conference in Almaty on March 24, the head of the investigating team, Saken Ikhsangaliyev, said he already had proof that a group of companies affiliated with Ablyazov had illegally raised a loan worth over $1bn.

Bankers in Almaty are now assuming the worst. One banker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "There has been a lot of talk about possible political motivation, but I think if anything the politics is on the side of Ablyazov. It is my firm belief there has been wrongdoing at the bank before the government took over, which is why they had to, it seems Ablyazov had stashed away a lot of money, as the government wanted to get him out."

But investigators will have their work cut out proving these allegations. Ablyazov owned a variety of different overseas assets, according to reports. BTA's official shareholder registration at the end of last year says no one investor owned more than 10% of the bank, but it is widely believed that Ablyazov was the majority shareholder and controlled his stake through multiple offshore holdings and cross shareholdings via stakes he held in different banks under the BTA brand throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.

"They were all known as BTA, but in some cases these baby-BTAs owned only 15% or so of the bank and it only had a majority stake in a few of them," says the banker in Almaty.

The bank is now in complete disarray as the scandal deepens. Roman Solodchenko, who was demoted from his position as chairman of the management board to deputy chairman just over a week ago, has fled the country and accuses the Prosecutor of politically motivated attacks. A warrant for Solodchenko's arrest was issued on March 21, but his whereabouts and that of his family is not currently known.

Solodchenko has criticised the government's handling of BTA after his demotion, saying it has "destroyed" the bank. At a press conference on March 25, the bank's chairman, Arman Dunayev, a former head of national investment fund Kazyna, stressed that BTA was operating "as a normal commercial bank," and said it had paid all its debts on schedule since the government recapitalisation on February 2.

Still, the bank remains in a very delicate financial position. Dunayev felt it necessary to hold a gun to the collective heads of the bank's creditors by warning that the Kazakh government may stop supporting the bank in the event of demands for early repayment of its debts. "If any of the creditors ask for early debt repayment, Samruk-Kazyna may review its attitude towards supporting BTA group," Dunayev said.

The Kazakh government stepped in to support BTA when it was on the verge of collapse two months ago and has invested around $2bn in the bank since then. The government has recently said it will consider restructuring BTA's foreign debts, which amount to around $12bn. But if the government withdraws its support, then BTA would also certainly collapse and no one will get their money back.

The bank's future looks black at the moment and to rub salt in its wounds, Fitch Ratings downgraded the bank a shocking seven notches on March 24 from 'B+' to 'CC', warning that its revving up to mark the bank down to a default rating. The ratings agency said it had re-rated the bank after Samruk-Kazyna mentioned a possible "modification" of BTA's debt, which the agency has taken to mean there is a very real possibility the bank will default on its debt. Few investors would disagree.

"Fitch notes that if, under a debt exchange, BTA's financial obligations are materially reduced relative to their original contractual terms, it will result in a downgrade to 'D' (default) or 'RD' (restrictive default)," says Andrey Markov, an analyst with Renaissance Capital. "Interestingly, Fitch also says that it has not been able to ascertain to what extent creditors have already sought to accelerate any of the banks' financial obligations, or to assess what proportion of the bank's liabilities have acceleration clauses which might have been triggered by Samruk-Kazyna's recent acquisition of a majority stake in BTA."

Markov says he believes that the lack of clarity has been caused by the fact that Samruk-Kazyna is actively negotiating with several large creditors to keep the bank afloat.

The widely published takeover deal of BTA by Sberbank would have solved many of these problems at a stroke. But, according to bne sources in Almaty, the negotiations have already run aground and both sides are continuing to talk for form's sake. This was confirmed by a bne banking source close to the negotiations in Moscow.

While Sberbank was clearly interested in BTA, as its operations in Kazakhstan and Ukraine would give the Russian retail banking giant access to markets that contain 80% of all bank assets in the CIS, problems surfaced right at the beginning of the due diligence process. A source at Sberbank confirms the problems with the complicated ownership structure highlighted by bne's Almaty source. "Once we started digging into the ownership structure of BTA, it became clear that the bank's assets are fragmented and the parent bank in Kazakhstan is not actually in full control of the assets in places like Ukraine," says bne's source.

At this stage details are hazy, but it appears that BTA's senior management were attempting to move the centre of the bank's operations from Almaty to Moscow and were only halfway through the process when the problems started, leaving the ownership structure in a mess. But given the talks of a possible takeover were initiated at a presidential level, both sides feel the need to complete the due diligence process, despite the fact that sources in both camps confirm a deal is now nigh impossible.