Metalloinvest Closes Large Syndicated Pre-export Financing
BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank have closed the syndication of five- and seven-year loans for JSC Lebedinskiy GOK, JSC OEMK and JSC Holding Company Metalloinvest (Metalloinvest), one of the world’s leading iron ore producers. The two banks acted as the initial mandated lead arrangers (IMLAs) and bookrunners in what is one of the biggest pre-export finance syndication in Russia’s metals and mining industry. The facility was almost three times oversubscribed compared to the original target of US$1.2bn. The group decided to close the facility at US$3.1bn.
In addition to the IMLAs and bookrunners, the following banks joined the facility as mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) and bookrunners upon close (in order of commitment size): Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), ING Bank NV, Crédit Agricole CIB, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Credit Suisse, Natixis, OJSC Nordea Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland NV, and UniCredit.
WestLB joined the facility as MLA, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill), Sberbank of Russia and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Ireland as senior lead arrangers (SLAs). Lead-arrangers are Standard Bank and Morgan Stanley, with JP Morgan as arranger and JSCB Bank of China (Eluosi) joined as lead manager.
Pavel Mitrofanov, deputy chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) of Metalloinvest, said: “We are happy to announce the closing of one of the largest syndicated pre-export financings in metals and mining in the CIS which turned out to be the largest syndicated pre-export finance loan facility since the crisis. The group has not only succeeded in closing a landmark-sized syndication, but has also attained highly competitive margins that are linked to the leverage ratio and will be 225 above LIBOR based on the 2010 financial year audited financial results.
“Therefore, we are happy to state that our company’s margins have returned to the pre-crisis levels, which is a remarkable achievement, particularly considering the size of the syndication. The success of the transaction reflects the main strengths of the group and the superior quality of its assets which both led to the group’s good financial results and cash flow during the economic crisis, and allowed us to significantly decrease financial indebtedness of the group in 2009-2010,” he added.