Russia's largest mobile phone operator, Vimpelcom, has closed syndication on its US$2bn unsecured financing. The deal was closed fully subscribed.
Mandated lead arrangers on the transaction are ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Calyon, HSBC, ING, UBS and Citi. The US$2bn facility is said to pay a margin of around 150 basis points.
The funds are being raised to support its acquisition of Golden Telecom, a provider of telecommunications services throughout Russia and the CIS.
Those familiar with the deal remark that it illustrates the high level of activity in the Russian syndications market, with many key corporates in acquisition mode. Compared to other markets where deal pipelines have been looking relatively sparse, the Russian market is seeing a number of secured and unsecured syndicated loans coming on to the market.
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