OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2013. NOMOS-BANK has taken a syndicated loan of USD240mn from a group of foreign and Russian banks.

The funds have been obtained for a term of one year with an option to be extended for a similar term. The loan interest rate is LIBOR+1.75% per annum. These funds will be used to finance the bank's gold-mining customers.

"The deal was very oversubscribed", commented NOMOS-BANK's President Denis Romaev. "Its ultimate amount could have been even higher but we decided to meet the demand to the extent corresponding to the loan portfolio of gold mining companies. At the same time, the deal involved as many as 15 credit and financial institutions, which is evidence of the high level of trust in NOMOS-BANK on the part of its partner banks".

The arrangers of this deal include COMMERZBANK AG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, J.P. Morgan Limited, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Rosbank OJSC, UniCredit Group, Credit Europe Bank N.V., Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Banca Intesa, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, PPF banka a.s., VTB Bank (Deutschland) AG, Oberbank AG, and The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland.

The new deal has become yet another one in NOMOS-BANK's successful record of arranging loans for domestic gold mining companies using foreign investors' funds. This syndicated loan has become the 15th loan taken by the bank and is the largest one in its history ever since NOMOS-BANK first entered the syndicated loan market in 2001. The total of the syndicated loans taken by NOMOS-BANK, including the latest deal, is over USD 1.5 billion, with 9 syndications arranged to finance the gold mining industry.

NOMOS-BANK has consistently been one of the three leaders in the Russian precious metals market. In 2007-2012, NOMOS-BANK was recognised as "The best Russian bank in the precious metals market".

Over the first nine months of 2013, NOMOS-BANK purchased 390.4 tonnes of precious metals in bullions, up 28.4% year-on-year. Specifically, the bank purchased 67.4 tonnes of gold (up 32% YoY) and 323 tonnes of silver (up 27.6% YoY). As of 30 September2013, its precious metals turnover totaled \\$21 billion (up 23.5% YoY).

NOMOS-BANK has almost one-third of all Russian gold-mining companies among its customers. Over the last 15 years, NOMOS-BANK has mastered the full cycle for corporate financing in this industry, from geologic exploration and extraction of precious metals to processing and subsequent sales, including export. In addition, the bank offers products for hedging risks associated with precious metal price fluctuations.