Mandated lead arrangers ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citi, ING, Natixis and Societé Générale have launched the senior phase of its seven-year US$2bn syndicated pre-export finance facility. The margin on the deal is set to fall again compared to Rusal’s previous deals, with the margin said to be dropping below 100 basis points.

 

It is also the first loan arranged since the Russian companies Rusal, Sual, and the aluminium assets of Swiss natural resources group Glencore merged in March. Negotiations over mandates started almost immediately following the merger.

 

The facility is being raised to refinance a number of unsecured bridge facilities including the bridge of a US$550mn disbursed by Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank. The facility carries a tenor of seven years, and will be amortised after a two-year grace period. It is secured by commodity receivables on the basis of a buy-back off-take.

 

Before the merger Rusal secured a landmark US$2bn syndicated credit facility, via MLAs ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citi, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Natixis. Signed in the second half of last year, this deal set new records on tenor and pricing, with one tranche featuring a seven-year maturity. The five-year tranche paid a margin of 110 basis points, and the seven-year portion paid 140bp over Libor.