MINSK, 30 May (BelTA) – The Finance Ministry and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus have offered a few comments concerning the Council of Ministers’ resolution No.381 of 28 May 2024, which stipulates how OAO Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (DBRB) will honor its obligations concerning eurobonds, BelTA has learned.
The Finance Ministry said: “This decision will allow eurobond holders from friendly jurisdictions, who bought the bonds before this resolution was passed (before 28 May 2024), to get payments, including the face value of the bonds and the accumulated interest yield, including via non-resident depositaries. This procedure is similar to the procedure used for transactions concerning Belarus’ sovereign eurobonds. Transactions will be made in Belarusian rubles according to the official rate of exchange against the U.S. dollar set by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus as of the date the monetary sums are transferred to the eurobond holder.”
Eurobond holders have to complete a verification procedure and enable the transfer of the bonds to the account of the issuer (OAO Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus).
Apart from that, the issuer can buy eurobonds from any holder at 30% of the face value of the securities.
The resolution is designed to protect interests of holders of DBRB eurobonds and enable them to get payments despite sanctions-fueled restrictions, the Finance Ministry stressed.
In turn, the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus assured it would take all the steps to build the necessary infrastructure of contracts and transactions in order to enable transactions as soon as possible. The latest information will be promptly published by the website of the Development Bank as press releases and will also be available in the website section designed for investors.
Queries from eurobond holders and the financial organizations that cater to them can be sent to the email address: ir@brrb.by. “We will be grateful if eurobond holders could find the time to download the relevant questionnaire from the bank’s website, fill it in, and send it to the specified email address. The bank will use this information only for internal evaluation and analysis in order to facilitate the implementation of the resolution for the sake of making the payments themselves,” the DBRB noted.
“We hope the holders will understand the effort the Development Bank makes to resolve the eurobond situation. Actions of the bank are driven only by the need to offset the external factors relating to sanctions-and unfriendly actions on the part of a number of foreign partners, who are involved in this eurobond project and have unilaterally refused to honor the undertaken commitments,” the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus said.
