Norilsk mandates for refinancing

Russian miner Norilsk Nickel has appointed seven banks as bookrunners to arrange a US$1.3bn, three-year syndicated pre-export loan.

The loan will be divided into three tranches: a US$650mn secured pre-export tranche with a margin of 85 basis points, a secured US$500mn revolving credit tranche paying 85bp and an unsecured US$150mn tranche that will pay a margin of 100bp.

The facility will be used to partially refinance a US$2.5bn, one-year unsecured line arranged by BNP Paribas and Soci&eaute;té Générale in 2007, part of a US$6bn loan obtained by Norilsk last year to back its acquisition of Canadian nickel mining company, LionOre Mining International.

The borrower has full commitments from seven arranging banks; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Calyon, ING, Soci&eaute;té Généraletransaction is not pre-funded due to the US$2.5bn loan not reaching final maturity until June.

Tickets being offered by the arranging banks are US$100mn paying 80bp, US$50m paying 65bp and US$25mn paying 50bp. Syndication is expected to continue until early June.
In contrast to the original US$6bn loan deal, the margins of the deal are not linked to Norilsk Nickel's ratings.

Norilsk is rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB- by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.