During the programme, a Cherkizovo subsidiary purchased 637,600 ordinary shares at an average price of $20.40, and 359,000 GDRs at an average price of $13.79. The purchases account for two per cent of the company's issued share capital.

Cherkizovo has also transfered its bonds onto quotation list "A 1" at MICEX.

The Board of MICEX made the decision on 14 March to transfer Cherkizovo bonds from quotation list "A 2", where the bonds have traded before, to quotation list "A 1". This means that the Group has passed all necessary tests and met all requirements of the MICEX.

Cherkizovo bonds are documentary inconvertible interest bonds with a total nominal value of 3 billion roubles. The bond issue was registered by the Federal Service for Financial Markets on 30 December 2009.

Inclusion of a company's bonds onto quotation list "A 1" is possible only if it satisfies the most stringent requirements regarding financial results, liquidity, corporate governance and procedures for information disclosure. The MICEX regulations regarding corporate governance and information disclosure correspond with the highest international standards.

Inclusion on list "A 1" expands the potential bondholder base to include Russian non-government pension funds, management companies accredited by the Russian State Pension Fund, insurance companies and others.

Inclusion of the bonds on quotation list "A 1" at MICEX started on 20 March 2012.

Sergey Mikhailov, CEO of Cherkizovo Group, said: “Following the transfer of our shares to quotation list "A 1" on March 2, 2012, we are very pleased that MICEX has made the decision to transfer our bonds to this similar list. This reconfirms our commitment to the highest standard of corporate governance and reiterates the investment case and credit quality of our Company."

The company has also appointed Alexander Kostikov as Head of IR and Communications from 20 March.

For the last three years Mr Kostikov was Communications Director at PepsiCo Russia, where he was responsible for corporate communications and corporate charity programmes in the CIS market. Before that he served as Investor Relations and Communications Director at Lebedyansky JSC (RTS: LEKZ), Russia’s largest juice manufacturer.