OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2012. Metinvest B.V., the parent company of the international vertically integrated steel and mining group of companies (jointly referred to as “Metinvest”), today announced that its subsidiary, Metinvest Trametal S.p.A. had repaid ahead of schedule the remaining €107.5 million of a 7-year €410 million Senior Facilities Agreement (the “Facility”) secured in January 2008. The Facility was used by Metinvest for the purchase of 100% equity interest in Trametal S.p.A. (later renamed “Metinvest Trametal S.p.A.”) and its subsidiary Spartan UK Limited (jointly referred to as ”Metinvest Trametal”) - two plate rolling facilities located in San Giorgio di Nogaro (Italy) and in Newcastle (UK), respectively. The Facility was arranged by a syndicate of 10 banks, with ABN Amro Bank N.V. and BNP Paribas S.A. acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Underwriters.

Metinvest’s decision to fully repay the Facility pledged against fixed assets and shares of Metinvest Trametal is in line with the on-going optimisation of the group’s corporate debt structure, which provides for arrangement of all external financing on the level of the parent company, Metinvest B. V. The Facility was repaid from the cash accumulated by Metinvest Trametal.

Sergiy Novikov, Chief Financial Officer of Metinvest, commented: "Repayment of the Facility decreases our short-term financial obligations and total indebtedness, and lowers the share of senior secured debt improving the credit rating of Metinvest’s public debt instruments. The removal of covenants from Metinvest Trametal frees up cash flows from two profitable steel mills to be used for implementation of capital expenditure projects in line with our Technological Strategy."