On the 14th and 21st of March this year two unscheduled general meetings of ABLV Bank, AS shareholders took place, at which the decision to change the currency of ABLV Bank, AS share capital from LVL to EUR and to increase the bank’s share capital was taken.
 
On the 14th of March at the unscheduled general meeting of ABLV Bank, AS shareholders, the decision to change the currency of ABLV Bank, AS share capital from LVL to EUR was made, as a result the share capital of ABLV Bank, AS equals EUR 30 001 899, being formed by 30 001 899 shares with nominal value of each share EUR 1.

On the 21st of March at the unscheduled general meeting of shareholders, the decision to increase the ABLV Bank, AS share capital by EUR 155 809 with a special purpose, issuing 155 809 employees shares with nominal value of each share EUR 1. The new subscribed share capital equals EUR 30 157 708. The employees shares will be allocated to the leading bank employees.  

At the same time at the unscheduled general meeting the amendments to ABLV Bank, AS Article of Association and the redrafted Article of Association were approved.

On the 21st of March, at the unscheduled general meeting, the decision to start a new bond issue programme was taken, under which public offering of the bonds amounting to EUR 400 000 000 will be performed till 1 of May 2015.  The issue will be implemented at several stages when the permission for public offering from the Financial and Capital Market Commission is received.

The bonds issue will be held in accordance with the strategic bank aims — attraction of available and long-term financial resources. The effective means to meet the aims is to diversify the source of finance by attracting customers’ deposits and issuing debt securities — bonds. The bonds issued by the bank are admitted to the regulated market, thus enhancing the range of investors able to acquire the bonds (e.g., open-end mutual funds). 

We started to issue public bonds in 2011. Since that time there have been 17 issues of bonds registered in NASDAQ OMX Riga list of debt securities. Overall, the investors hold the ABLV Bank, AS bonds worth EUR 427,4 million. 

ABLV Bank, AS is the largest independent private bank in Latvia. The bank’s majority shareholders — Oļegs Fiļs, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne – directly and indirectly hold 86% of the bank's share capital. ABLV Group includes ABLV Bank, AS; ABLV Bank Luxembourg, S.A.; ABLV Capital Markets, IBAS; ABLV Asset Management, IPAS; Pillar Holding Company, KS; ABLV Consulting Services, AS; ABLV Corporate Services, SIA; New Hanza City, SIA, and other companies. ABLV Group has representative offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Almaty, Dushanbe, Baku, Tashkent, and Limassol.

         Ilmārs Jargans
         
         Head of Public Relations Department
         ABLV Bank, AS
         Tel.: +371 6777 5296
         e-mail: ilmars.jargans@ablv.com