The goal of the credit is the refunding of loans attracted in 2003-2004.
"As a result of refunding, Gazprom will release from security one of the export contracts and effect a saving of 18 million dollars in debt servicing expenses", the press release reads.
Gazprom will get the credit in two tranches - 700 million-dollar for three years and three months, 272 million-dollar for five years. The interest for the first tranche is 1.25 percent annually +LIBOR, for the second tranche it is 1.50 percent annually +LIBOR.
This credit is the biggest and most protracted of the unsecured syndicated credits ever attracted by Russian companies. It sets a new rate target on three- and five-year unsecured borrowings.
The attracted credit lets Gazprom cut the share of secured borrowings in the total volume of the debt portfolio and also reduce the total cost of borrowings.
The ABN AMRO (The Netherlands) is the leading world bank with a total amount of assets about 608.6 billion euros (as of December 31, 2004). The bank has over 3,000 branches in more than 60 countries. The bank personnel number about 100,000.
In September 2004 the OAO Gazprom attracted a 1.1 billion-dollar secured credit for six years. The ABN AMRO was the underwriter, bookrunner, lead-organizer and agent for the credit. That credit was used to refund the six secured credits attracted by Gazprom in 2000-2002.
