Russia's second largest oil producer OAO Lukoil (LKOH.RS) said Monday it has
secured a $1.2 billion syndicated pre-export loan with a consortium of
international banks.
As Dow Jones Newswires reported in July, the loan will mature in three years
and is priced at 400 basis points over Libor.
The company said the funds would be used for general corporate purposes, to
refinance existing debt and to fund its oil export operations.
The lead organizers of the loan are ABN Amro NV, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi,
Barclays Capital (BARC.LN), BNP Parisas SA (BNP.FR), Calyon, Citi (C), Deutsche
Bank AG (DB), ING Bank NV, Natexis, Orgresbank, Societe Generale (GLE.FR) and
Welst LB AG.
As Dow Jones Newswires reported in April, Lukoil first approached banks in
February but it has taken longer to arrange the deal than would traditionally
have been the case, given banks' lending constraints and the difficult economic
conditions.
In June, Lukoil's Chief Executive Vagit Alekperov said the company wasn't
planning to borrow, unless there was an interesting asset to buy.
Apart from OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS), which borrowed $15 billion from China
Development Bank in February, Lukoil's is the only major loan from
international lenders to a Russian oil company since the autumn of 2008.