Russian oil firm Tatneft has won an oversubscribed unsecured US$550mn credit facility from a club of nine banks.

The facility, which will go towards working capital purposes, is structured as a fixed rate loan of 3.5% a year with a six-month interest period and a bullet repayment after three years.

This is 0.4% more than the price that Tatneft paid for the three year tranche of July 2010’s oversubscribed US$2bn pre-export financing facility.

The total amount will be drawn down into tranches between July and November 2011, the firm says.

The loan was arranged by BNP Paribas, The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Commerzbank, ING Bank, Natixis, Nordea Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and WestLB.

ING Bank and WestLB acted as joint coordinators of the deal, with WestLB taking the responsibility of facility and documentation agent.

Allen & Overy acted as legal advisors to the lenders, while Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton advised Tatneft.

The self-arranged club deal attracted widespread interest from prospective lenders in the amount substantially exceeding Tatneft’s borrowing requirements.