Cash hunt: Time is running out for Rosneft as the oil giant seeks $2 billion
Rosneft in $2 billion Yukos cash hunt
Russia’s biggest oil producer Rosneft is seeking $2 billion worth of loans from Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale to refinance debt used to buy the assets of bankrupt producer Yukos, sources involved in the deal said today.
Rosneft may pay interest of 0.95% more than the London interbank offered rate for a five-year loan term, a banker involved in the deal told Bloomberg. The rate is about 0.5% more than the Moscow-based company’s existing loan, added the banker.
The Russian giant was forced to seek cash in the loan market after abondoning a sale of bonds in July as the collapse of US subprime mortgages caused yields to soar. The company has a deadline of 19 March to refinance $5 billion of the 12 month bridge loans used for the $22 billion acquisition of Yukos assets in May last year.
The oil company raised the short-term bridge loans in March 2007 in the biggest-ever financing for a Russian company. It agreed to pay an interest margin of 0.25% to 0.5% on the debt.
The loans, which fall due in March and September, were arranged by ABN Amro Holding, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
Rosneft spokesman Nikolai Manvelov in Moscow declined to comment, Bloomberg reported.