ON DECEMBER 27 AUCTION FOR OFFERING BONDS OF LOCAL EXECUTIVE BODY OF ASTANA WILL BE HELD AT KASE

/KASE, Dec.21, 99, official press-release of the Exchange/ - Kazakhstan stock exchange (KASE) informs that on December 27, 1999 in Trade system of KASE the auction will be held for initial offering of the bonds of local executive body of Astana. The emitter of these securities is local executive body of Astana city of Kazakhstan, which doubles as Administrative council of free economic zone with the same name. Financial consultant of the emitter will be determined by the results of the tender, which will be published on December 23. Financial agent of the emitter - KASE. The bonds are allowed to circulate on KASE by the decision of KASE's Board on December 21, 1999. Issue, circulation and repayment procedures of the bonds are regulated by the document "Temporary procedures of issuing bonds of the local executive body of Astana", which was approved by the resolution #1950 of the government of Kazakhstan, dated December 20, 1999. The securities being offered are state issued securities, which are issued in non-documentary form to finance regional investment programs of the city. These are coupon bonds, denominated in US dollars, and coupon is paid semiannually. Par value - 100 US dollars. Announced issue volume - 150 mln tenge. Circulation term - 1 year (364 days). Maturity date - December 26, 2000. KASE trade code - ASU012.001. National identification number (NIN) will be announced later. Initial offering of the bonds will be held at par value by an auction method in Trade system of KASE. Coupon rate of the bonds are an item for auction participants to bid on. Applications for the auction will be submitted on December 27, 1999 in Trade system of KASE from 9:00AM till noon of Almaty time. Applications can be submitted only by members of KASE of category "K" (right to participate in trades in state securities, which are allowed to circulate on the stock exchange). Investors may submit applications through their members. Only competitive applications are accepted to the auction. Submitted applications are satisfied by the emitter based on auction results after a cut-off. Applications with yields higher than the rate chosen by emitter as a cut-off rate will be cut-off. All applications, submitted with rate equal or less than the cut-off rate, will be satisfied at a single yield, which is equal to the cut-off rate. Payment date for the bonds purchased on the auction - December 28, 1999 till 5:00PM Almaty time. The payment is made in Kazakhstani tenges at official rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to US dollar set on the day prior to the payment date. Investors will pay for the bonds purchased on the auction through organizations, which have accounts in CJSC "Central depository of securities" (Almaty) and correspondent accounts in the National Bank of Kazakhstan. Coupon of the bonds are paid by the emitter on the hundred eighty second (June 27, 2000) and the three hundred sixty forth (December 26, 2000) days of the circulation, and the last coupon payment date coincides with the principal amount repayment date. Coupons are paid in Kazakhstani tenges at official rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to US dollar set on the day prior to the payment date. The bonds are repaid by the emitter at par value in Kazakhstani tenges at official rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to US dollar, effective on the date prior to maturity day. If repayment day is a holiday or week-end, the emitter will repay the bonds on the next working day. Following is the list of legal entities - members of KASE, who can participate in the auction, and through whom investors can submit their applications: CJSC "KAZKOMMERTS-ZIRAAT-INTERNATIONAL BANK"; CJSC "CITIBANK KAZAKHSTAN"; OJSC "Halyk Bank Kazakhstan"; OJSC "Bank TuranAlem"; OJSC "TexaKaBank"; OJSC "TEMIRBANK"; OJSC Bank "CenterCredit"; CJSC "Affiliated joint stock bank "ABN AMRO BANK KAZAKHSTAN"; CJSC "Eximbank Kazakhstan"; CJSC "Evraziiskii bank"; JSCOT "Almaty merchant bank"; JSCOT "Joint stock bank LARIBA BANK"; OJSC "BANK "KASPIISKII"; OJSC "International bank - Alma-Ata"; OJSC "Kazakhskii aktsionernyi agropromyshlennyi bank"; OJSC "DB SECURITIES (KAZAKHSTAN); LLP "KBS Securities"; OJSC "Kazkommerts Securities"; CJSC "Company CAIFC"; OJSC "Kazakhstanskaya finansovaya komapnya"; OJSC "FINANSOVAYA KOMPANYA GREENWICH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT"; LLP "ATERA capital"; LLP "INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT GROUP"; LLP "Dom tsennykh bumag EASTBROKERS"; LLP "PETROKAZ CAPITAL"; CJSC "GLOBAL SECURITIES (KAZAKHSTAN)"; LLP "KIB ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd"; LLP "Kompanya R.G.Securities"; CJSC "Fondovyi service"; Republican state enterprise of postal services under the Ministry of transportation and communication of Kazakhstan. Currently, the National securities commission of Kazakhstan did not make a decision on the possibility of purchasing the bonds of local executive body of Astana using the assets of accumulative pension funds. Additional information will be given on the decision of the commission.