December 30, 2008, Moscow. Chairman of the Board and CEO of Sberbank (RTS: SBER, MICEX: SBER03) Herman Gref and Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO “Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works” (RTS, MICEX: MAGN; LSE: MMK) Victor Rashnikov signed a nonrenewable 2-year credit facility for RUB 3.0bn.

The credit facility is provided to finance the construction of the plate mill complex at MMK (Plate Mill 5000) with a design capacity of 1.5 mn tons of plates per year. The plates are intended for production of pipes, building of ships, vessels and bridges.

The implementation of the plate mill complex is bound to further significantly strengthen the general operational efficiency of MMK. It will secure state-of-the-art production of high quality plates meeting international standards and capable to successfully compete both in the domestic and export markets.

In its turn, Sberbank considers the credit line for MMK as another major step towards effective support of Russian strategic enterprises.