OREANDA-NEWS. August 1, 2011. OJSC MCC EuroChem ("EuroChem” or the "Company”) announced that it has signed a new USD 1,300,000,000 Pre-Export Finance term loan facility on a club basis (the "Facility”). The Facility was significantly oversubscribed.

Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners under the Facility are Bank of America Merrill Lynch; The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.; Barclays Capital; BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA; Citi; Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank; HSBC Bank plc; ING Bank N.V.; Natixis; OJSC Nordea Bank; Raiffeisen Bank International AG; The Royal Bank of Scotland plc; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited and ZAO Raiffeisenbank, with BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA acting as Facility and Security Agent and Natixis as Fixed Rate Agent.

ING Bank N.V. acted as sole Coordinating Bank.

The Facility is structured as a 5-year pre-export finance facility and is the largest bank debt financing in the Chemicals sector in the CEE since 2009.

The Facility is priced at LIBOR + 1.8% and includes a 2-year grace period. Approximately one third of the proceeds of the Facility will be used to refinance the amount outstanding under EuroChem’s 2008 USD 1.5 billion syndicated PXF facility, while the remainder will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditure and potential M&A activity.

Andrey Ilyin, EuroChem’s CFO commented, "We are very pleased to have raised yet another landmark long-term financing for the Company. In spite of today’s volatile environment, we secured better terms compared to EuroChem’s previous PXF facility. This transaction extends the average maturity profile of our debt, and its favorable repayment structure releases operating cash flow for strategic investments”.

Alexander Gavrilov, Head of Corporate Finance at EuroChem added: "This Facility could be another deal of the year for us. We are delighted with the high level of support we received from our traditional partners, while at the same time broadening our group of relationship banks to form this pool of first class international banks”.

EuroChem is a Top 10 agrochemical company globally by nutrient capacity, producing primarily nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, as well as certain organic synthesis products and iron ore. The group is vertically integrated with activities spanning from mining to production logistics and distribution. EuroChem holds licenses to develop potash reserves in Russia which entitle it to an estimated fifth-largest volume of potash reserves globally.