Hogan Lovells has acted for ING Bank N.V. ("ING") in its capacity as co-ordinating bookrunner and mandated lead arranger in a borrowing base revolving credit facility (BBF) for NLMK Sales Europe (NSE). NSE is part of the NLMK Belgium Holdings, owned by one of the world's leading steel companies NLMK Group and the Walloon Region investment company SOGEPA.

Partner David Leggott (international banking and finance practice) led the transaction from London with support from senior associate, Anna Saville, and associate Rashi Lordan. Given the cross border feature of the transaction, Hogan Lovells teams in France (partner Olivier Fille-Lambie and associate Claire Fruchet) and Germany (partner Katlen Bloecker and senior associate Clara Rego Calderon) were also involved. Lydian advised the banks in relation to Belgian law issues.

The EUR 130m BBF, which is guaranteed by SOGEPA, has a four-year tenor and will be used for general corporate and working capital purposes

The BBF was oversubscribed following strong interest from NSE’s core relationship banks.  Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. trading as Rabobank London, DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Société Générale joined as bookrunner and mandated lead arrangers alongside ING Belgium, Brussels, Geneva Branch.

David Leggott said, "We are delighted to have assisted ING in bringing this transaction to a successful conclusion and also to be working alongside the NLMK Group again. All parties involved should be very pleased with the result here, which has been achieved notwithstanding some general headwinds in the markets at the moment."