Uralchem has signed an unsecured five-year syndicated loan deal.

The US$200mn loan was priced at three-month Euribor plus-2.5% with a grace period of two years and marks the first time the fertiliser producer has obtained an unsecured club facility.

In a written statement, the company says the loan has “made it possible to release secured assets on the assignment of rights on export contracts”.

The mandated lead arrangers were Nordea, HSBC, Raiffeisen and Rosbank. Nordea also acted as documentation agent and facility agent. The facility closed four weeks after launching.

2013 has been a big year for Uralchem in the markets. At the beginning of the year, Uralchem secured its debut pre-export finance (PXF) facility, worth US$220mn.

At the time, John de Lange, who heads up ING’s structured metals and energy finance division and who helped broker the deal, told GTR that the loan was representative of a newly outward-looking stance taken by Russian businesses.

He said: “I think Russian banks are slowly but surely changing their approach. They used to finance their clients exclusively in a traditional banking manner – in other words, loans secured on company assets and sometimes shares. Now, they’re becoming more open to PXF and security structures that were already more common to international banks.”

Uralchem CEO Dmitry Konyaev says of the latest facility: “Our mutually beneficial co-operation with the leading banks that form the syndicate has been going on for years. The terms of the new deal and the efficiency of its closing show the high confidence that the banks have in the group and the sustainability of its financial position. We are grateful to our creditors and appreciate our partnership with them.”