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New York, NY – April 15, 2008 - WestLB closed a PLN 215 million (USD 95.5 million) project finance loan for Electrocieplownia Nowa Sarzyna Sp.Z.o.o. (ENS) in Poland, a subsidiary of AEI (formerly Ashmore Energy International). The financing was arranged to refinance ENS’ outstanding debt and develop a highly structured bond facility for working capital purposes.

WestLB acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Sole Underwriter, Bookrunner and Facility Agent for the project.

WestLB, as arranger and underwriter of the debt facility, syndicated a pre-closing of a PLN 175 million, 10.5-year senior loan among four lenders, ING, WBK (a subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank), DZ Bank, and Kommunalkredit Austria. The financing was significantly oversubscribed. Additionally, WestLB provided ENS with a new PLN 40 million bond facility for working capital purposes.

ENS owns and operates a 116 MW gas-fired combined heat and power plant in Southern Poland that began operations in 2000. It is a cogeneration plant and was acquired by AEI as part of the acquisition of Prisma Energy in 2006.

“WestLB is pleased to be part of the first financing to occur on a project finance basis since the recent changes in the Polish Energy market occurred, as a result of Poland having recently joined the European Union,” said Bernhard Idelmann, Director, WestLB’s Global Energy Group.

ENS, along with many other Polish generators, historically sold its output under a long term offtake contract to Polska grupa Energetyczna, a state owned entity. However, the European Commission ruled last year that those offtake contracts constituted illegal state aid. As a result, the offtake contracts have been voluntarily terminated by most of the Polish generators, which now participate in a new compensation scheme.

“We are very excited to have successfully closed this transaction and look forward to working with ENS in their future financing needs,” said Gilles Dusser, Associate Director, WestLB’s Global Energy Group.

Jacek Glowacky, General Manager of ENS, commented that “this is a significant milestone in the present credit climate and demonstrates the strategic importance of ENS in the Polish power market. It clearly enhances our potential to deliver energy for development.”

About AEI
AEI, The Energy for Development, is a company that owns and operates essential energy infrastructure businesses in emerging markets worldwide. AEI manages interests in a group of 37 energy companies with operations in 19 countries and more than USD3 billion in revenues (2007) and approximately 14,500 employees. The Company serves more than 6.3 million customers worldwide by operating businesses in Power Distribution, Power Generation, Natural Gas Transportation and Services, Natural Gas Distribution, and Retail Fuel. You can visit the AEI website at www.aeienergy.com.

About WestLB Capital Markets
WestLB develops sophisticated structured solutions through a team of highly experienced investment banking and capital markets professionals. WestLB has a long-standing presence in the corporate, structured and asset-backed financing sectors supporting clients' needs with capital commitments, advisory services and innovative financing solutions. The bank’s global relationships, coupled with its unique understanding of local economies, industries and cultures, help WestLB bankers consistently deliver high quality advice and service. For more information, please visit www.westlbmarkets.com.

About WestLB
WestLB AG is one of Germany´s leading financial services providers and offers the full range of products and services of a universal bank, focusing on lending, structured finance, capital market and private equity products, private banking, asset management, transaction services and real estate finance. WestLB has total assets of €286.5 billion, as of December 31, 2007. For more information, please visit www.westlb.com.

In the United States, certain securities, trading, brokerage and advisory services are provided by WestLB’s wholly owned subsidiary WestLB Securities Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of the NASD and SIPC.

(NOTE: Year-end Earnings Release as of December 31, 2007, distributed to public on April 2, 2008)

Contact:
WestLB AG - Group Communications – Americas
Ashweeta Durani or Connie J. Kain
Ph: 212-852-6310
Ph: 212-597-1439
ashweeta_durani@westlb.com
connie_kain@westlb.com