DUSHANBE, December 25, Asia-Plus – Russian Aluminum (RusAL), one of the world”s largest aluminum producers, has announced the first disbursement of US$674 million under its new US$1 billion loan facility.
RusAl representative office in Dushanbe said that on December 20, RusAl effected its first drawdown under the short-term bridge facility for US$1 billion to finance certain pre-agreed arrangements in anticipation of its merger with certain assets of the SUAL Group and Glencore under their October 2006 merger agreement. The facility is arranged by BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citigroup and Natixis who act as Mandated Lead Arrangers. BNP Paribas was appointed Documentation Bank and will act as Facility Agent.
According to the source, the bridge facility is distinguished by its unsecured nature, reflecting increased confidence of the banking community in RusAl”s solvency and the strength of its commitments. With a tenor of one year, the facility is expected to be refinanced by a syndicated global financing following completion of the merger transaction.
RusAl is the world’s third largest primary aluminum producer, providing primary aluminum and value-added casthouse products to customers in 50 countries. Headquartered in Moscow, with operations in 9 regions of Russia and 13 countries globally, RUSAL now accounts for 75% of aluminum production in Russia and 10% internationally. RUSAL has 47,000 employees and was established in March 2000 through a merger of several largest aluminum smelters and alumina refineries in the CIS.
