OREANDA-NEWS. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (“NCSP Group” or the “Group”) (LSE: NCSP, Moscow Exchange: NMTP) announces that on 25 November 2013 it signed an agreement to change certain conditions of its USD 1,950 million loan with Sberbank.

PJSC NCSP CEO Yuri Matvienko said: “The fact that we have reached an agreement with Sberbank is an exceptionally important event for the Group. The new conditions we have agreed to represent a significant improvement, and grant us more comfort in debt management.

“We were able to decrease the interest rate starting from 19 January 2014, to restructure the repayment schedule, and to significantly lighten the covenant requirements, including raising the net debt/EBITDA threshold and ending EBITDA/interest cover testing.”

Under the signed agreement:

From 19 January 2014 the interest rate will be reduced to a floating rate of LIBOR 3M + 5.0% instead of the originally agreed fixed rate of 7.48%;

The loan repayment schedule has been restructured: the loan will be repayed by regular installments every six months starting in June 2014;

The amount of repayments in 2014-2017 was reduced compared to the previous schedule.

Installments will increase towards the end of the loan period, with a final balloon payment equivalent to 40% of the total indebtedness to be made on the last day of the agreement - 18 January 2018.

About NCSP Group

NCSP Group is the largest port operator in Russia in terms of cargo turnover. NCSP shares are traded on Russia's Moscow Exchange (ticker: NMTP) and on the London Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs (ticker: NCSP). NCSP Group cargo turnover in 2012 totalled 159 mln tonnes. Consolidated revenue according to IFRS totalled USD 1,034 mln and EBITDA was USD 591.5 mln in 2012. NCSP Group consolidates the following companies: PJSC “Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port”, LLC “Primorsk Trade Port”, PJSC “Novorossiysk Grain Terminal”, OJSC “Novorossiysk Ship Repair Yard”, OJSC “NCSP Fleet”, OJSC “NLE”, OJSC “IPP”, LLC “Baltic Stevedore Company” and CJSC “SFP”.