Goldman Sachs leaves as Kazakh BTA advisor

ALMATY, July 1 (Reuters) - Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N) will no longer advise Kazakhstan's largest bank, BTA BTAS.KZ, on the restructuring of its $15 billion debt, BTA said on Wednesday.

BTA is retaining UBS, its second key adviser on debt restructuring, a spokesman for the Kazakh bank said.

BTA did not say why Goldman Sachs had left and the U.S. lender declined to comment on the matter.

BTA, which was nationalised in February, hired Goldman Sachs in March and later announced plans to restructure its debt after defaulting on $550 million in bilateral loans. It has said the restructuring would be completed in August. [ID:nL9542736] [ID:nLI663959]

BTA has said it would record a loss of about $8 billion in 2008 due to bad loan writedowns. The loss will wipe out its capital, putting negative shareholder equity at about $5 billion. [ID:nL4964200]

If debt talks fail, BTA faces bankruptcy. [ID:nLU36148] (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)