Ukraine-based metals and mining conglomerate Metinvest Group has closed a €23.6mn buyer credit facility with Deutsche Bank, backed by Finland’s export credit agency (ECA), Finnvera.
Deutsche Bank is the sole arranger and lender for the loan, which has a tenor of 11.5 years and is provided to Metivnest’s Dutch parent company. The bank was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright.
The funds will be used to purchase equipment from Finnish sustainability solutions provider Metso to thicken enrichment waste from the company’s iron ore extraction and processing facility Northern Iron Ore near Kryvyi Rih, around 350km south of Kyiv.
“This transaction represents a significant milestone for the group,” says Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Metinvest’s chief executive. “It reflects our commitment to long term investment in our Ukrainian operations, particularly Northern Iron Ore. Despite ongoing security challenges, we are dedicated to preserving and potentially enhancing operational capacity, supporting workforce and advancing the environmental sustainability of our flagship iron ore asset.”
This is Metinvest’s first loan backed by an ECA since the war in Ukraine started, Ryzhenkov adds.
Northern Iron Ore has still not returned to pre-invasion levels of production, producing eight million tonnes of iron ore concentrate and four million tonnes of pellets in 2024 compared to 13 and six million respectively in 2021.
“Deutsche Bank is proud to support our long-standing client, Metinvest, with this important financing arrangement, in partnership with Metso, and Finnvera, to support this strategic project,” says Moritz Doernemann, global co-head of structured trade and export finance at Deutsche Bank. “This transaction highlights the strategic importance of both Metinvest and Ukraine to Deutsche Bank.”
This deal is part of a wave of ECA-backed deals in Ukraine that began last year following a general exodus during the early years of the invasion. In June, the EU funded its first deal with Denmark’s ECA under a €300mn risk-sharing initiative designed to encourage ECAs to invest in the war-torn country.
Finnvera re-entered the Ukranian market in January last year with €50mn of government support to help it recoup losses incurred by the war. The agency told GTR at the time that it would initially focus on short-term insurance cover.
