July 3, 2008

Russia's RAV Agro-Pro announces intention to list on stock exchange

RAV Agro-Pro, a Russian agricultural company focusing on the cultivation of crops like wheat, corn, sunflower and barley, said Thursday (July 3, 2008) it plans to proceed with an initial public offering on Russian exchanges.

The offering will be structured as a sale of existing ordinary shares currently owned by selling shareholder R.A.V., Russian Agricultural Ventures Ltd.

R.A.V. has indicated its intention to use a majority of the proceeds received from the offering to pay for new shares in a closed subscription, which the company will conduct immediately after the offering.

The price for the closed subscription is expected to be the equivalent of the offering price net of the portion of fees and expenses incurred in connection with the offering attributable to the company.

The company intends to use the proceeds it receives in the closed subscription to finance acquisitions of rights to farm land, to purchase agricultural machinery, to acquire and/or construct additional storage facilities, to refinance debt and for working capital purposes.

Merrill Lynch and UniCredit SpA will act as joint issuers.