Published: August 10, 2012
HSBC leads syndicate in deal guaranteed by Czech ECA.
Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of Russian oil company Gazprom, has raised €258mn (US$316.7mn) from a syndicate of international banks.
The unsecured funding has been raised over 10 years supported by an export credit agency.
The funds will pay for an equipment upgrade at NIS, its oil refinery in Serbia.
The syndicate was led by HSBC, the global arranger. The bank was also a mandated lead arranger alongside Czech lenders Česká spořitelna and Komerční banka.
The Czech Republic’s Export Guarantee & Insurance Corporation (EGIC) guaranteed the loan, in one of the largest such deals covered by an export credit agency for a Russian company this year.
This is the first time Gazprom Neft has secured a loan guaranteed by an export credit agency, an arrangement that has allowed it to raise the funds at a lower rate over a longer period.
Gazprom Neft has reserves of more than 7bn barrels of oil at its five refineries, employing more than 50,000 people.