Moscow 9 July 2003: SUAL Group, one of the world’s top ten aluminium producers, today announces the appointment of Josef Bakaleynik as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this role he has responsibility for the Group’s finance, credit and investment activities and is a member of its Management Board.

Josef joins SUAL from Russia’s Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), where he has spent six years as First Vice President and CFO. At TNK, he conducted the Group’s financial restructuring and played a central role in the breakthrough deal with BP, announced earlier this year, which propelled the combined group to third position amongst oil companies in Russia by reserves and production. Prior to this, Josef was General Director and Chairman of Russia’s Vladimir Tractor Plant, where he developed and implemented an integrated turnaround plan for the company.

Josef has over twenty years" experience in finance, including a period working for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington DC, USA. In 2001 he was named “Best finance director in Russian business” by recruitment agency Ward Howell. Earlier, in 2000, Josef was acknowledged “Best finance director of the year” by Russian magazine The Career. He holds an MSC and Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow State University and an MBA (with distinction) from Harvard Business School.

Chris Norval, Chief Executive of SUAL Group said:
The expertise Josef has gained at TNK and before will be extremely valuable in the ongoing internationalisation of SUAL. He has a thorough understanding of the capital markets and Russian business in general, and is a welcome addition to my management team.

Josef Bakaleynik, SVP Finance and CFO of SUAL Group, added: “I am very pleased to be joining SUAL at such an exciting stage in its development. Preparing the Group for the international capital markets promises to be an exhilarating challenge, and I look forward to drawing on my experiences of working both in Russia and with international investors to develop SUAL’s business.”