Vimpelcom hits the road

Russia's largest mobile phone operator, Vimpelcom, has launched syndication of a US$2bn unsecured financing, and had held one of its first roadshows this week.

Mandated lead arrangers on the transaction are ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Calyon, HSBC, ING, UBS and Citi.

The funds are being raised to support its acquisition of Golden Telecom, a provider of telecommunications services throughout Russia and the CIS.

On February 18, Vimpelcom announced that it had completed its tender offer for all the outstanding shares of the common stock of Golden Telecom, via its subsidiary Lillian Acquisition.

The total acquisition package also includes a US$1.5bn bridge loan, which will not be syndicated to the market. The US$2bn facility is said to pay a margin of around 150 basis points.

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 are looking relatively sparse, they are a number of syndicated deals, both secured and unsecured, expected to come on to the market.

Vimpelcom is also the borrower in one of GTR's prestigious Best Deals of 2007. It was involved in a landmark local currency export financing arranged via HSBC. A full write-up of this deal and the other winning entries will appear in the forthcoming March/April edition of GTR.