KfW places EUR 5 billion Benchmark bond successfully, defies challenging capital market situation

Frankfurt (ots) - Today KfW added a EUR 5 billion three-year bond
to its EUR Benchmark Programme. The Euro Benchmark II/2008 matures on
8 April 2011 and pays a coupon of 4.00% p.a. With a re-offer price of
99.806 it yields 4.072% p.a. This corresponds to a yield pick-up of
47.2 bp over the Bundesobligation which matures in April 2011. The
lead managers of the transaction are BNP Paribas, Dresdner Kleinwort
and Nomura. The bond has received the same top-notch triple-A rating
from Fitch Ratings, Moody's and Standard & Poor's as all KfW bonds.

The volatility of Europe's capital markets made it hard for many
issuers to place their securities with investors over the last two
months, but deals have picked up again since early April. Issuers
with excellent credit quality were particularly successful. Investors
especially focused on the right pricing, which is not easy given the
currently low secondary market liquidity.

"Its first-class credit quality makes KfW a top address for
institutional investors even in a difficult capital market
environment. We have a significantly oversubscribed bond and, with
160 individual orders, a very strong diversification. In a marketing
phase of only 24 hours, the order book grew steadily, ultimately
reaching a volume of EUR 6 billion. This demonstrates that our
pricing was right, commented Dr Frank Czichowski, KfW's Treasurer.
This afternoon the bond was priced at the upper edge of the price
talk.

73% of the bond was placed in Europe, of which 11% in Scandinavia,
10% in Germany and Switzerland each, and 12% in Central and Eastern
Europe. The remaining was distributed among Asia 21%, North America
3.5% and Africa 1.5%. Particularly worth noting is the strong demand
for a Euro benchmark bond that came from Asia.

The distribution of the order book by investor category is as
follows:
Central banks: 49%
Banks 23%
Funds: 17%
Insurance companies and pension funds: 7%
Others: 4%

For 2008 KfW announced a funding volume to the tune of EUR 70
billion. Just under half of this, or EUR 32.5 billion, has so far
been raised. As in the past, the Benchmark Programmes will account
for the largest share of funds raised - with at least four euro and
US dollar Benchmark bonds each planned for 2008.

This press release is not an offer to buy securities in the USA.
Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except
with prior registration or with an exemption from registration under
the US Securities Act. KfW will register the securities described in
this press release for sale in the USA. The offer to buy the
securities will be made in the USA only on the basis of a prospectus
which will be provided by KfW and will contain detailed information
about KfW, its management, its annual financial statements and
information about the Federal Republic of Germany.

Features
KfW EUR Benchmark II/2008 - 4.00%
- Maturity 8 April 2011

Issuer: KfW
Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany
Rating: AAA (Fitch Ratings)/Aaa (Moody's)/ AAA (Standard & Poor's)
Amount: EUR 5,000,000,000
Maturity: 8 April 2011
Coupon: 4.00% p.a., first short coupon
Re-offer price: 99.806
Yield: 4.072% p.a.
Format: Global bond
Listing: Frankfurt

Lead Managers (3):

BNP Paribas
Dresdner Kleinwort Nomura

Co-Lead Managers (12):

ABN AMRO
Banca Akros Gruppo BPM
Barclays Capital
Credit Suisse
Deutsche Bank AG
DZ Bank AG
Goldman Sachs
HSBC
JP Morgan
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
UBS

Selected Dealers (8):

Calyon
Danske Bank A/S
Fortis
ING
Natixis
Nordea Bank Danmark A/S
Santander
Unicredit (HVB)

Originaltext: KfW
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Pressekontakt:
KfW, Palmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM)
Tel. 069 7431-4400, Fax: 069 7431-3266,
E-Mail: presse@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de