YEREVAN, June 17. / ARKA /. Armenian Araratbank deputy chief executive director, David Harutyunian, said today the bank plans a fresh 250 million dram offering of nominal coupon bonds. Speaking at a news conference he said the bank will offer 25,000 bonds from June 20 to July 11 with a nominal value of 10,000 drams, a 12% annual interest rate and a two-year maturity period. He said dividends will be paid every quarter.

Harutyunian said after the offering Araratbank will ask NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange to have these bonds listed. The bank will hire Renesa company as its market-maker. David Harutyunian said a relating agreement will be signed on Monday. He also said the raised proceeds will be channeled into financing small and medium-sized businesses. According to him, today the bank’s outstanding micro-crediting portfolio is 8 billion drams. The bank had made its three previous offerings in 2007, 2008 and 2009 worth a total 760 million drams.

Araratbank, previously called Haykap Bank, was founded in 1991 and provides a full range of banking services to corporate, MSME and retail customers. The bank has established a reputation as a small but reliable and dynamically growing financial institution. EBRD holds 25% in Araratbank. The rest is held by Barsegh Beglarian, head of the biggest petrol importing company Flash. Araratbank joined NASDAQ OMX Armenia January 30, 2009.

According to ARKA data, as of March 31, 2011 the bank’s assets totaled 69.9 billion drams, the liabilities stood at 59.1 billion drams, the total capital was worth 10.8 billion drams, the authorized capital stock - 7.1 billion drams, its outstanding credit portfolio stood at 29.2 billion drams, liabilities to clients at 46 billion drams, and net income for the first quarter of 2011 was about 510.2 million drams. The bank operates 34 branches. ($ 1 - 375.67 AMD).-0-