MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprombank, a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP], intends to secure loans worth $1-1.5 billion on foreign markets in 2007, a deputy bank CEO said Thursday.
Alexander Sobol said next year the bank will secure loans "no less than this year."
He also said the bank will continue issuing ruble-denominated bonds to secure loans on the domestic market in 2007.
He said the bank had also signed an agreement with Japanese ratings agency JCR and may start issuing samurai bonds after it acquires a rating.
Sobol said the rating may be acquired in two months but samurai bonds will be issued no sooner than May 2007.
He said issuing bonds worth less than $500 million "makes no sense for a bank of our size."
Gazprombank was the third largest Russian bank in terms of assets as of October 1, 2006, with 738.7 billion rubles or $27.3 billion.
