Russian oil firm Lukoil is in the final stages of signing a US$1.2bn syndicated loan with a group of 12 banks, according to banking sources.
Among the lenders are Deutsche Bank, ING Bank, Societe Genrale and WestLB. The club deal pays a margin of more than 400 basis points (bps) over Libor. The deal is structured as a secured pre-export financing to provide extra security for lenders.
This is only the fourth major syndicated loan agreed for Russian firms this year. The others are oil companies Rosneft, TNK-BP and mobile operator MTS, which has secured three separate loans totalling €413mn from three international lenders to finance investments in network development. The loans will be provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Russian sovereign risk has come down considerably since the beginning of the year, also improving sentiment in the loan market – Russian five-year CDS was nearly 800bps in February, down to 340bps at the beginning of July.
Lukoil’s previous syndicated loan, agreed in April 2008, paid margins of 85-95bps. That unsecured US$1bn loan was split between a US$300mn, three-year tranche A that paid 85bps and a US$700mn, five-year tranche B that paid 95bps.
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