Russia's Ursa Bank offers to buy back euro bond

MOSCOW Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russian lender Ursa Bank announced a buy-back of a 400 million euro bond issue, and a trade source said the bank was offering 75 percent of face value.

"The Bank may from time to time repurchase (through open market purchases or private transactions) up to all of the outstanding 7.00 per cent LPN due May 2010," Ursa bank said in the statement.

Emerging markets corporate debt prices have plunged as the world financial crisis ignites risk aversion, giving borrowers the chance to save cash by repurchasing the debt rather than redeeming it at nominal value.

"A trader at Ursa bank has offered to purchase LPN 2010 (Loan Participation Notes) for 75 percent of its nominal price," a trader at a state-controlled Russian bank told Reuters.

The owners of Ursa Bank and MDM, one of Russia's top 30 banks, announced in December they decided to merge their holdings, creating Russia's second-largest privately-owned bank. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)