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BondVision Expands To Central European Issuers

Date 07/04/2004

BondVision is pleased to announce a significant broadening in the number of listed bonds on the market with the introduction of 11 Central European issuers. The expansion comes due to client demand and in conjunction with the listing of certain of these securities on NewEuroMTS, the benchmark market for issuers from the EU Accession States. By including these bonds, BondVision will promote a more cohesive European marketplace for investors.

As of 14 April, the following issuers' euro-denominated bonds will be available for trading through BondVision: Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Ukraine. In addition, US dollar-denominated bonds from Bulgaria, Poland and the Ukraine and local currency bonds from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will also be available on the BondVision market. Initially, Banca Caboto, Commerzbank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, ING, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and UBM will offer liquidity, with more dealers scheduled to join.

"We are pleased to support BondVision in order to broaden the number of investors who can effectively trade in Central European bonds," said Lorenzo Stanca, Head of Fixed Income and Forex Markets at UBM, which has a considerable presence in Central Europe through direct participation in local banks. "BondVision is already providing clients with efficient means to trade EU area bonds and will now bring this opportunity to another sector of the marketplace."

Stefan Grünwald, CEE Fund Manager, Raiffeisen Capital Management, said: "We welcome the inclusion of Central European bonds on BondVision as they represent a substantial percentage of our assets under management. In addition, it is perfect timing, given the EU enlargement, to have them available together with an already comprehensive list of euro-denominated bonds, which includes fixed, index-linked, floating and zero coupons."

BondVision is unique in that it offers investors access to the exceptional liquidity of MTS, the leading electronic market for European fixed income. Investors access BondVision free of charge.