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Strategies & Market Trends : Investment in Russia and Eastern Europe -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: P.T.Burnem who wrote (523)	8/25/1998 3:49:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1301

Russia sets terms of short-term debt restructuring Tuesday August 25, 3:12 pm Eastern Time MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it will restructure its GKO short term treasury bills and OFZ bonds maturing before the end of 1999 and issued before August 17, 1998 into rouble-denominated bonds with maturities of between three and five years. A government order said the restructuring, which would take place between August 26 and September 26, would also allow investors to exchange a certain amount of old rouble debt for new dollar denominated paper. Five percent of the nominal value of the old rouble debt will also be repaid in cash if the investor chooses to swap old rouble debt into new rouble debt. The new three-year rouble-denominated debt would have a coupon of 30 percent. Four-year debt would also have a 30-percent coupon over the first three years, falling to 25 percent in the fourth year. The coupon on five-year debt would follow the same pattern, falling to 20 percent in year five. Investors could also choose to restructure their old rouble debt into dollar-denominated debt. But in that case they would only be able to redeem 20 percent of the nominal value of the old rouble debt for the dollar bonds, which would give a five-percent coupon and would mature in 2006. The nominal value of the rouble debt would be calculated from the paper's average price in roubles on August 14, 1998. The nominal value in roubles would then be exchanged into the dollar debt at an exchange rate calculated from the mean official exchange rate between August 17 and 26, the order said. Investors who chose to restructure their old holdings into new rouble debt have the right to receive five percent of the nominal value of their old holdings in cash. Investors could also choose to restructure their old rouble debt into certificates of deposit issued by state-owned savings bank Sberbank for the same terms offered for the new government rouble debt. Related News Categories: currency, international Help Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information. Questions or Comments?

To: P.T.Burnem who wrote (523)	8/25/1998 3:53:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1301

P.T., Do you "care" about Russia or are you just a short? I'm not really making a value judgment -- just curious. I checked your SI posts and they seem oriented towards the world-is-going-to-end bent. As to myself, I care about Russia (good friend has a Russian wife), and I'm attracted to the dirt-cheap valuations on companies like Vimpelcom with excellent long-term prospects, and I'm trying to be a nimble trader on the political/economic/market currents.