Our Trade Finance team handled two major Russian pre-export financings in the metals industry, with a combined worth of US$600 million.
 
Firstly, we've played an integral role in helping Société Générale close a four-year US$400 million pre-export loan facility for a Russian steelmaking giant, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK).
 
A total of 10 international banks participated in the deal. SocGen was appointed co-ordinating mandated lead arranger and bookrunner for the facility. ING, Nordea Bank, Rosbank, and UniCredit acted as MLAs. Deutsche Bank, Natixis, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) acted as lead arrangers, while China Construction Bank and Bank ICBC acted as arrangers. Deutsche Bank was appointed as facility agent and ING acted as security agent.
 
The facility will be used to refinance the company’s short-term debt and for general corporate purposes.
The deal was co-led by Partners David Leggott and Alexander Rymko, with the support of Senior Associate Oleg Gritsenko. Law firm Froriep assisted on the Swiss law matters.
 
Secondly, our team in Russia have achieved further success in the metals industry, having advised Natixis as a co-ordinating mandated lead arranger in relation to the US$200 million syndicated pre-export finance facility to Aktyubinskaya Mednaya Kompaniya (part of Russian Copper Company group). The facility provided for an accordion option, increasing the commitment from US$150m to US$200 million which was successfully subscribed in full.
 
Along with Natixis group, ING Bank N.V., Sberbank of Russia, UniCredit Bank and European subsidiaries of VTB Group participated in this financing. The facility will be used to refinance the company’s existing debt and for general corporate purposes.
 
The deal was led by Moscow Partner Alexander Rymko, with the support of Senior Associate Oleg Gritsenko. The team also included David Leggott (Partner, London), Olivier Fille-Lambie (Partner, Paris), Louis-Jerome Laisney (Senior Associate, Paris) and Artyom Vazhenin (Associate, Moscow), as well as law firms Niederer, Kraft and Frey (Switzerland), Oris (Kazakhstan), and Walkers (BVI).
 
These deals once again highlight the strength of our Russian pre-export finance capabilities, with the team having closed the Uralkali pre-export facility earlier this year, the first international syndicated loan facility in 2015 for a Russian borrower.