Press Release

Thursday, July 13, 2006

OPIC Board Approves $100 Million for Leasing to Small Businesses in Russian Federation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today approved $100 million in OPIC financing to support the leasing of equipment and vehicles to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Russian Federation, accelerating the growth of the region’s financial sector by providing SMEs access to new sources of capital.

OPIC will provide the financing to ZAO Europlan (Europlan), the leading lessor of equipment and vehicles to SMEs throughout the Russian Federation, to support $450 million in planned Europlan leasing throughout the Federation in 2007 and 2008. Europlan is owned by two leading private equity firms, Delaware-partnership Capital International Private Equity Fund IV (CIPEF) and Baring Vostok Capital Partners (BVCP).

The project will particularly benefit underdeveloped areas: Europlan currently serves 60 of 89 regions in the Russian Federation, and conducts more than 50 percent of its business outside of greater Moscow.

Furthermore, as a consequence of OPIC’s involvement, Europlan intends to approach the international capital markets for its first borrowing without the credit enhancement of an international development institution.

OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. noted that leasing companies such as Europlan support private sector investment in developing countries, where companies typically lack credit histories or access to capital. Compared to bank lending, leasing provides capital more efficiently and typically with longer tenors of financing.

“By helping the Russian Federation to develop its leasing capacity, this project will deepen the region’s financial sector, particularly its ability to support small businesses,” Mosbacher said. “OPIC is pleased to support a project with so many development benefits, both for Russian SMEs and the U.S. sponsor.”

Europlan maintains 26 offices throughout the Russian Federation and has a portfolio of 8300 active leases. Formerly known as DeltaLeasing, it was established by the U.S. Russia Investment Fund through a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1999. In 2003, BVCP bought DeltaLeasing and renamed it Europlan; that same year, OPIC approved a $30 million loan to the company. In 2004, CIPEF became a shareholder in Europlan. During 2005, Europlan invested $95 million in leases to SMEs in Russia.

CIPEF was formed in 2003 for the purpose of investing in emerging markets, and is managed by Capital International, which is in turn part of the Capital Group Companies, Inc., one of the largest investment managers of mutual funds and pooled investment funds in the world.

BVCP-Baring Vostok Capital Partners is the manager of three private equity funds. The $160 million NIS Fund, established in 1994, was one of the first shareholders in a number of Russian or CIS companies including Burren Energy, Syktyvkar Forestry, Golden Telecom, Vimpelcom, Sladco, Borjomi, and Rogan Brewery. To date, the NIS Fund has been the top-performing Russian private equity fund and its results place it in the top quartile of global private equity funds over the same period.

BVCP raised a second fund, Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund, in 2000, with $205 million in capital and its third fund, Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund III, in 2004 with $400 million in capital. Today, BVCP’s funds own significant stakes in Europlan Leasing, CTC Media, Golden Telecom, Burren Energy, Spassk Cement, PPE Group, Yandex, Ozon, and Gallery.The funds’ shareholders are primarily institutional investors from Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia.