Ukrainian steel producer Metinvest has closed its pre-export finance (PXF) facility at US$325mn. The deal was signed on May 25 and disbursements started on June 1.

The deal was launched at US$300mn in April. At the time there were suggestions the PXF could raise up to US$500mn, but it closed just slightly oversubscribed. Market sources suggest nervous credit committees within European banks hampered the initial enthusiasm for the deal.

Deutsche Bank was the coordinating mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, and also acting as MLAs were ING Commercial Banking, Natixis, UniCredit and West LB. BNP Paribas joined the transaction as a mandated lead arranger. Most of the lenders took tickets of US$50mn, a source reports.

The deal was not underwritten and pays a margin of Libor plus 4.75% and a grace period of one year, to be followed by 24 monthly instalments of equal value.

The pricing was higher than Metinvest’s previous five-year US$1bn PXF raised at the end of 2011 at a rate of 3% over Libor.

Rates across the CIS region are typically lower with sources citing pricing of 300-350 basis points on Russian PXFs, although to draw in nervy European banks even top-tier borrowers are having to accept slightly higher pricing.