Macquarie Bank and Macquarie Renaissance sign Cooperation Agreements with Vnesheconombank

09 September 2007

Macquarie Bank today announced the signing of a Cooperation Agreement with Russian state corporation Vnesheconombank.  The Agreement was signed in the presence of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, by Mark Johnson (Chairman of ABAC 2007, former Deputy Chairman of Macquarie Bank and Chairman of the Macquarie Infrastructure Group) and  Vladimir A. Dmitriev (Chairman of Vnesheconombank) in the course of the 2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting.

The Agreement signifies the intention for Macquarie Bank and Vnesheconombank to find opportunities to cooperate in a variety of areas and industries of mutual interest to clients in their home markets.  This may include advisory services and financing arrangements in prospective projects or transactions.

A second cooperation agreement was signed between Vnesheconombank and Macquarie Renaissance with a specific focus on opportunities in the infrastructure sector in Russia and other CIS countries. Macquarie Renaissance is a joint venture between Macquarie Bank and Renaissance Capital with the aim of developing infrastructure advisory and fund management opportunities in Russia and the CIS.

About Vnesheconombank
Vnesheconombank is a state corporation designed to promote higher competitiveness of the Russian Federation, its diversification, support of investment activity and other promotional activities in order to implement investment projects in the Russian Federation and abroad, including projects that attract foreign capital and aimed, inter alia, at developing infrastructure, innovations, environmental protection and small and medium business support. VEB's activities were rated by the world's leading rating agencies. The Bank's short-term and long-term credit ratings are in line with Russia's sovereign credit rating.

About the Macquarie Bank Group
The Macquarie Bank Group (Macquarie) comprises Macquarie Bank Limited and its worldwide affiliated entities. Macquarie is a leading global investor and manager of infrastructure businesses.  Members of the Macquarie Bank Group manage more than €36bn (US$49bn) in equity invested in infrastructure and essential service assets around the world through a range of listed and unlisted vehicles, and have achieved a return to investors of 19.8%¹ pa over 11 years. Infrastructure investments managed by Macquarie include investments in the energy, water, telecommunications and transportation sectors in the UK, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, US, Australia, Korea, Japan and South Africa.  Macquarie-managed businesses: provide water to 5m households; distribute gas via 6.7m connections; deliver electricity to 750,000 households; serve 110m airport passengers per year; and 2.2m cars drive on our roads per day. Macquarie aims to manage its investments in essential community infrastructure profitably and responsibly.

About Renaissance Capital
Renaissance Capital is a leading emerging markets investment banking firm in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Renaissance Capital has market-leading positions in each of its core businesses – M&A, equity and debt capital markets, securities sales and trading, research and derivatives. Renaissance Capital is part of the Renaissance Group, an independent group of investment banking, asset and wealth management, merchant banking and consumer finance companies specialising in high-opportunity emerging markets. Renaissance Group operates in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Cyprus, across Sub-Saharan Africa, the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and Bermuda.  For further information visit www.rencap.com

¹ Annualised return based on all capital raised, distributions paid and valuations (market capitalisation for listed funds and net asset value for unlisted funds) for Macquarie’s Investment Banking Funds Division funds since inception to 31 June 2007 (listed funds as at 31 June 2007, unlisted funds as at 31 December 2006).  Calculated in AUD.  Cashflows converted at historic rates. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

For further information, please contact:

Karen Smith
Corporate Communications Manager
Macquarie Bank
Tel: (44) (0) 20 7065 2420