Fitch комментирует объединение АТФБ (Казахстан) с Казпромбанком

/Алматинское бюро REUTERS, Лондон, 11.05.01/ - Международное рейтинговое агентство Fitch заявило сегодня, что решение Алма-атинского торгово-финансового банка (АТФБ) о покупке 100 процентов акций Казпромбанка не окажет немедленного влияния на рейтинги АТФБ. "Однако агентство проведет полномасштабное изучение этой операции летом 2001 года", - говорится в сообщении Fitch. Агентство присвоило АТФБ долго- и краткосрочный рейтинги "В", индивидуальный рейтинг "D", рейтинг поддержки - "5Т". Прогноз долгосрочного рейтинга - стабильный. АТФБ объявил о покупке Казпромбанка в середине апреля. По данным Fitch, в конце марта 2001 года АТФБ находился на 4-м месте по размеру активов среди банков страны, Казпромбанк - на 19-м. Агентство также сообщило, что акционеры АТФБ намерены завершить объединение двух банков к концу июля 2001 года, однако окончательный срок зависит от одобрения присоединения Нацбанком Казахстана и выполнения всех юридических процедур. Ожидается, что объединенный банк, который сохранит название АТФБ, останется на 4-м месте по размеру активов среди банков Казахстана. Ниже следует оригинал сообщения Fitch на английском языке: LONDON, May 11 (Fitch)- Fitch, the international rating agency, has today said that it does not expect an immediate impact on the ratings of Kazakhstan's Almaty Merchant Bank (AMB), following the announcement of the acquisition by AMB's shareholders of KazPromBank (KPB). However, the agency will undertake a full review of this transaction later in the summer 2001. AMB's ratings are as follows: Long-term 'B', Short-term 'B', Individual 'D', Support '5T'. The Outlook for the Long-term rating is Stable. KPB is one of the smaller Kazakh banks, with total assets at end-March 2001, calculated in accordance with Kazakh Accounting Standards (KAS), of only KZT4.1bln (USD28mln), making it the 19th largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets at that date. Its dominant customer on the funding side, Kazzinc, is a leading gold, silver, lead and zinc mining, processing and export corporate in Kazakhstan. Kazzinc is controlled by one of AMB's shareholders, Glencore International AG, the privately-owned Swiss metals, minerals and energy group (turnover in 2000: USD48bln). This should help to ensure that Kazzinc's business stays with the merged bank. KPB's customer loan portfolio accounted for c.40% of its total assets at end-March 2001, equating to c.18% of AMB's loan portfolio at that date, but to a high 80% of its end-March 2001 equity (calculated in accordance with KAS). KPB's customer lending is mainly to small and medium enterprises, particularly those providing services to Kazzinc, and asset quality appears acceptable according to the criteria of the National Bank. Fitch expects to carry out a more in depth review of KPB's loan portfolio as part of its annual due diligence process on AMB in summer 2001, and will communicate its conclusions shortly thereafter. The majority of KPB's remaining assets are more liquid, including deposits with the National Bank and balances on correspondent accounts. The shareholders of AMB intend to merge the two banks by end-July 2001, subject to the approval of the National Bank and the satisfactory completion of all legal procedures. Following the merger, domestic issues of subordinated debt and preference shares, and strong organic growth (already witnessed in 2001, including with business from Kazzinc), AMB's management expects the merged entity to have a capitalisation, including subordinated debt, of KZT5bln (USD34mln) and total assets of KZT30bln (USD207mln) by end-2001. This should consolidate the position of the merged group as the fourth largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets (AMB was already the fourth largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets at end-March 2001). Although neither the management of AMB nor that of KPB have prior experience of mergers, the lack of complexity to each bank's operations means that managing the merger should not be too onerous or costly a process.