OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2009. Rosneft repaid a USD 1.85 bln loan received almost one year ago from a syndicate of international banks under a repurchase agreement for Rosneft shares, reported the press-centre of Rosneft.

The pledged shares have been repurchased by RN-Razvitie, Rosneft’s 100% owned subsidiary, bringing RN-Razvitie’s ownership of Rosneft shares back up to the level of one year ago (1 bln shares, or 9.44% of Rosneft’s authorized share capital). Shares owned by RN-Razvitie are accounted for as treasury shares in Rosneft’s consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with US GAAP and as regularly disclosed each financial quarter.

Since September 30, 2007, Rosneft has reduced net debt by more than USD 8.5 bln to USD 19.2 bln at March 31, 2009, with further reductions anticipated in Q2 2009. In addition, Rosneft recently signed a USD 15 bln, 20-year loan agreement with China Development Bank, the value, cost and duration of which are unprecedented for both Russian corporate and global capital markets. These successes, together with reduced costs and improved profitability, have strengthened Rosneft’s credit profile, further evidenced by the Company’s reduction of Net Debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.2x at the end of 2008.

The REPO transaction was financed by a syndicate of international banks including Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, J.P. Morgan Securities LTD, Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLS, Nexgen Capital Limited, Societe Generale, The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC. Barclays Bank PLC acted as a credit agent and transaction arranger.