OREANDA-NEWS. November 22, 2011. Metinvest B.V. (“the Company”), a parent company of the international vertically integrated steel and mining group of companies, today announced that it has secured a USD 1 billion 5-year pre-export finance facility. The syndication was launched in September 2011 by Deutsche Bank AG, ING Commercial Banking, Natixis, Unicredit Bank AG and West LB AG to a group of targeted relationship banks, following a successful securing of a USD  850 million 5-year amortizing loan for Metinvest in August 2011. The facility pays an interest margin of 3% per annum over Libor. The majority of the proceeds were used to replace Metinvest’s two existing pre-export finance facilities on improved terms. Additional proceeds raised will be used for working capital, capital expenditure and general corporate purposes.

Sergiy Novikov, Chief Financial Officer of Metinvest, commented: “We are very pleased with the successful closing of the USD 1 billion pre-export facility. Despite the current challenging macroeconomic environment, the facility was oversubscribed demonstrating continued investor confidence in our business. The USD 150 million increase of the loan secured by Metinvest in August of 2011 is in line with our prudent financial policy. The deal strikes a perfect balance between our need for capital to support the Company’s growth and funding costs. The facility allowed us to refinance our existing loans extending their maturity at reduced rate of interest.”

The five banks acted as the Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, while Deutsche Bank AG also acted as Coordinating Mandated Lead Arranger. BNP Paribas joined the transaction initially as Mandated Lead Arranger. Erste Group Bank AG and Rabobank International joined the Facility as Arrangers, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. and Barclays Bank PLC joined as Lead Managers, Raiffeisen Bank International AG as Manager and Credit Suisse AG as Participant.