The FINANCIAL -- The EBRD is raising up to USD 170 million, including USD 100 million syndicated to six commercial banks, to enable Russia’s largest bearings producer, European Bearing Corporation, to refinance its entire outstanding debt so as to extend its maturity and relieve debt servicing pressures.
The triple-tiered transaction, part of the Bank’s anti-crisis response, consists of a 6-year A loan of USD 30 million for the EBRD’s own account, a four-year syndicated B loan of USD 100 million and a six-year mezzanine portion of up to USD 40 million with a bullet repayment at maturity, again entirely for the EBRD’s own account.
"The commercial banks participating in the B loan syndication include Commerzbank, UniCredit Group, VTB Bank (France) SA - Paris, East-West United Bank S.A. and Nordea as Mandated Lead Arrangers, as well as Societe Generale as Lead Arranger. The pricing of the B loan is five (5) percent over 3-month LIBOR," EBRD informs.
Eurobearing, founded in 1998, designs and manufactures bearings for the rail, aircraft and automotive industries and has a strong presence in all these key market segments in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
In 2009, however, its key clients were hit hard by the downturn and reduced orders accordingly, leading to a 40 percent contraction in the Russian bearings market. As the country’s largest producer of bearings, Eurobearing was inevitably affected but reacted by optimising costs, which helped it to return to profitability from Q2 2009.
The company contributes to the economic diversification of Russia and its leading market position, strong customer base and successful strategy mean that Eurobearing is well positioned for the future, said the EBRD’s Director for the Corporate sector in Russia, Eric Rasmussen.
Eurobearing will invest some USD 15 million of this funding to implement programmes covering both energy efficiency and energy resources management across its four major bearings plants in Russia and Kazakhstan. Apart from cutting costs, this is due to reduce by at least 20 percent specific energy consumption and specific carbon emissions.
In addition, over USD 6 million will be invested under a separate Environmental and Social Action Plan whose implementation will set a benchmark for the industry in Russia.
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