‘Pavel Chernavin and Rais Garifulin’s selling their share holdings and Severnaya Kazna Leasing Company Ltd. becoming the bank’s shareholder means Severnaya Kazna is preparing for an auction. This is likely to happen even earlier than I had expected, that is, before the end of 2007,’ claims Vitaliy Kalugin, Assets Manager of Unicom Partner Investment Company.

‘If these shares are eventually acquired by Chairman Vladimir Frolov from Severnaya Kazna Leasing Company Ltd., the bank may be sold shortly after the semiannual account,’ Mr. Kalugin says.

‘Should the leasing company wish to keep the shares, one could assume that all the share-selling transactions are aimed at creating a more complex shareholder structure, which is generally used for protecting a company against hostile takeovers. Severnaya Kazna might be trying to rebut someone’s attempts to take over the bank,’ Mr. Kalugin observes.