OREANDA-NEWS. On February 22, 2007 OJSC “MMC “Norilsk Nickel” (“Norilsk Nickel” or the “Company”) and a group of western financial institutions signed a $ 450 million loan facility agreement.

According to the press service of Norilsk Nickel, the facility was arranged, fully underwritten and syndicated by Barclays Capital (the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC), ING Bank N.V and Sociйtй Gйnйrale Corporate and Investment Banking. Sociйtй Gйnйrale is also acting as Facility Agent and Documentation Agent.

The loan syndication was heavily oversubscribed and Norilsk Nickel elected to increase the facility size to $450 million from the original launch amount of $300 million.

This transaction represents a benchmark deal on the Russian syndicated loan market in terms of tenor and pricing. It is the first 5 year, unsecured revolving credit facility with a bullet repayment for a Russian borrower. The Company pays a margin of 42.5bps over Libor in the first 3 years, increasing to 50bps for years 4 and 5.

Norilsk Nickel is the world’s leading producer of nickel and palladium, one of the largest producers of platinum and one of the top ten producers of copper in the world. For the full year of 2005, Norilsk Nickel recorded revenues of $7.2 billion with strong EBITDA margin and cash flow generation. In the first half of 2006, Norilsk Nickel’s revenues reached $4.2 billion. The company is rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB- by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.

The following banks joined the transaction:

Bookrunners/ Mandated Lead Arrangers: Barclays, ING, Sociйtй Gйnйrale Corporate and Investment Banking.

Mandated Lead Arrangers: Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG, CALYON, Citigroup, Commerzbank AG, Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited.

Co-Arrangers: BNP Paribas SA, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Luxembourg SA, DZ Bank AG, Intesa Sanpaolo Group, Natixis.