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The Director of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (Rosatom) Sergey Kirienko and Alfa-Bank President Peter Aven have signed an agreement to organize a financing program for the development of atomic power and industry, as well as an investment program and projects in this sector. Thus, Alfa-Bank has become the first private Russian bank with which Rosatom has reached an agreement on strategic partnership.

The agreement calls for cooperation between Alfa-Bank and Rosatom regarding the fulfillment of current and strategic tasks in the atomic sector. In particular, the parties intend to work together to carry out the federal and sector-specific program of Rosatom as well as attract investment to subsidiary organizations. Within the framework of this cooperation, Alfa-Bank will provide the Agency with consulting and informational services in the financial-banking sphere, carry out an expert valuation of related credit and financial organizations, participate in the analysis of project outlays and expenditures, prepare recommendations regarding the organization of their financing, and determine the degree of credit risks. The document also calls for further development of cooperation between the Bank and the Agency in areas such as payment transactions, credit and the organization of financing for investment projects and programs elaborated by Rosatom, including the attraction of funds on external markets.

The signing of such an agreement represents the next step in the development of cooperation since 1999 between Alfa-Bank and enterprises in the atomic energy sector. The Bank’s clients and partners currently include large enterprises in the atomic sector such as Rosenergoatom, TVEL, Atomstroiexport and Techsnabexport (Tenex). These companies and their employees are offered a wide range of services through Alfa-Bank branches in all major cities where the sector’s enterprises are located: Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov and St. Petersburg. To date the volume of credits extended by Alfa-Bank to enterprises in the atomic energy sector totals more than 8 billion rubles.

“The President of Russia has given the sector a sizeable, serious task to raise the share of atomic energy in the country’s energy balance”, said Rostaom Director Sergei Kirienko at the official ceremony. “Development of the atomic sector in Russia does not simply refer to a nuclear shield and the supply of power resources to meet the growing needs of the country’s economy. It implies development and new life in twenty cities within the sector, the development of an entire cluster of national sciences, and a leading role for Russia on the global market for nuclear technologies. Serious investment will be required for wide-ranging expansion of the production of enterprises in the atomic industrial and power sector. I am confident that following this agreement with Alfa-Bank our cooperation will rise to a fundamentally new level”.

While participating at the agreement signing ceremony, Alfa-Bank President Peter Aven noted that “Alfa-Bank has long and successfully cooperated with an entire range of enterprises in the atomic sector. The share of atomic power enterprises in our client base totals around 3.8%. Moreover, the signing of this agreement creates new prospects for partnership between energy companies with strategic importance for the economy. Alfa-Bank is one of the few private Russian banks capable of organizing effective financing of large-scale projects in the atomic sector. Thus the expansion of our cooperation with Rosatom is a natural step facilitating development of the sector’s financing needs”.