OREANDA-NEWS. February 02, 2012. JSC VTB Bank provided financing to Russian Forest Products Group (RFP Group). Chaba Zentai, Senior Vice President of JSC VTB Bank, and Zare Arutyunyan, President of RFP Group, signed a USD 11 million loan agreement, reported the press-centre of VTB Bank.

The funds were supplied within a RUB 3 billion documentary credit limit set for the holding.

The limit provides for a mid-term financing (up to 5 years) of the company’s current operations and capital investments, including equipment procurement for logging operators and vessels purchase and modernization. VTB allowed for the guarantees to be issued in favor of tax authorities, as well as forfeiting transactions (financing by installments through foreign banks funding).

Since 1995, VTB has been rendering a wide range of services to the holding, such as lending, depositing, issuing import and export letters of credit and guarantees, performing FX operations and foreign exchange control.

For reference:
RFP Group (Russian Forest Products Group) is a leading timber holding in Russia. It is the second largest enterprise in Russia in terms of the leased timber fund and the leader in timber selling to the NEA countries. The holding operates on 6.4 mln. hectares of timberland. The permitted felling volume is over 4.5 cubic meters of timber p.a.

RFP Group runs timber business (procurement, processing, sale and supply of timber to the APR countries) and performs logistic operations (freight and civil traffic, stevedoring services for sea and river routes of the Far East Region). About 6 thousand employees work for the holding enterprises located in the Khabarovsky and Primorsky Krais and the Amur Region.