Moscow, Russia - 6 June, 2008 - Sistema (LSE: SSA), the largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages fast growing companies operating in the consumer services sector, today announced the signing of US$ 613.3 million syndicated multi-tranche loan facility (the "Facility") with ABN AMRO.
The Facility has a tenor of 3 years and is comprised of Standby Letters of Credit totaling US$ 358.3 million and a Term Loan of US$ 255 million, each to be repaid on an amortising basis. The Standby Letters of Credit carry an annual interest rate of LIBOR plus 240 bps and Term Loan Facility - of LIBOR plus 265 bps.
The purpose of the Facility is to fund Sistema's capital injection into its Indian subsidiary, Shyam Telelink Limited, as well as to facilitate raising debt on the local market to finance its growth.
Alexey Buyanov, Senior Vice President, CFO, commented: "We are very pleased that Sistema's debut syndicated deal on the loan markets received such a strong response. We also want to thank all of the banks which participated in this important deal, as well as ABN AMRO as our lead arranger. This deal clearly indicates that the investment community endorses Sistema's long term strategy and supports us even during difficult market conditions."
Hasan Mustafa, Executive Director and Head of CEEMEA Loans Syndicate & Sales at ABN AMRO Bank N.V., added: "In the midst of turbulent markets Sistema has proven to the financial community that it is an attractive asset from a risk-return as well as relationship perspective. In addition, having a portion of the deal in an unfunded format helped mitigate the funding cost issues for Lenders."
ABN AMRO acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner of the Facility. RBS acted as the Facility Agent. BNP PARIBAS, CALYON, Credit Suisse International, ICICI Bank Limited, Singapore Branch, ING Bank N.V. and Joint-Stock Company Banque SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale Vostok all acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers. OJSC GAZPROMBANK acted as Lead Arranger, Natixis Bank (ZAO) and RZB Group as Arrangers. MKB Bank Zrt. acted as Co-Arrangers and HSBC Bank plc was a Lead Manager.
