UniCredit’s Russian arm has closed a US$300mn three-year term loan with a group of five banks to use for trade finance and general corporate purposes.

The loan pays a margin of 150 basis points over Libor and was arranged by Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Commerzbank, UniCredit Austria, Wells Fargo and WestLB.

The Russian bank recently had its long-term counterparty credit rating raised by Standard and Poor’s by one notch from BBB- to BBB.

The firm’s parent bank in Italy has come under increasing pressure after being hit hard by eurozone sovereign debt turmoil.

However, an unexpected blessing came in the form of Libyan sovereign wealth funds piling money into UniCredit and purchasing around 1.4 billion shares.

It is unsure whether this will be returned to a new Libyan government.

Dealing in UniCredit shares was suspended on August 23 after a period of volatility.