OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2012. Independent Transportation Company LLC (NTK, a part of UCL Rail) has successfully concluded a deal to acquire from Russian Railways OJSC 25% plus one share in Freight One OJSC, and has thereby consolidated 100% of the shares of the operator.

In order to finance the deal, besides putting forward its own funds, the company obtained a RUB 42 bln syndicated loan. The deal was organised by Sberbank CIB1[2] and VTB Capital. Financing was provided as part of the second tranche of a syndicated credit line extended to the company last year in order to fund its acquisition of a stake in Freight One OJSC of 75% minus two shares. The total amount of financing (including the first tranche) equalled RUB 117 bln, which means that this is the largest rouble-denominated syndicated deal.

“The new shareholding structure will allow us to significantly cut the time required to make strategic decisions. This will help the company to achieve sustainable development and rapidly react to any challenges posed by the market,” commented Oleg Bukin, General Director of Freight One.

This finalisation of the integration of Freight One and Independent Transportation Company is a key part of the programme for developing UCL Rail’s railway assets. It is expected that as a result of the integration, a synergy effect will be reached from combining and employing the expertise and best business practices of both companies.

“All this will allow us to create a national leader, not only in terms of size of operations and amount of rolling stock, but also with regard to quality of services and effective management. The emergence of an entirely private railway operator of such size will give a new impetus to the development of the railway transportation market on the whole,” added Oleg Bukin with certainty.