On Thursday 16.06.2016, Rosseti PJSC and ICBC JSC (a 100% subsidiary of China’s largest commercial bank – the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited - ICBC Ltd) signed an agreement on the opening of a line of credit. For Rosseti, the document was signed by the Rosseti PJSC Deputy General Director for Finance, Egor Prokhorov, and for the Chinese side – by the Director of ICBC Bank, Ms. Lan Wei-Jie.
The agreement envisions the provision of credit funds in the amount of up to RUB 1.5 bln for a term of 3 years for general corporate purposes. The line of credit will make it possible to diversify Rosseti’s debt portfolio, some of which represents debt to banks with Russian capital, and some – bond placements.
According to the Deputy General Director for Finance at Rosseti PJSC, Egor Prokhorov: “For the Russian energy industry, this is a precedent-setting deal – a deal in which for the first-time ever, a Chinese bank is making a line of credit available in Russian rubles.”
It’s also the first bilateral agreement with a Chinese bank concluded within the scope of the systematic and smoothly-planned work being done by Rosseti in terms of achieving the maximum diversification of possible sources of financing both in Russia and abroad. Negotiations with the Chinese partners unfolded over the course of a year-and-a-half, within the framework of a series of meetings in Hong Kong with China’s largest banks, including the Bank of China, ICBC Ltd, and the Agricultural Bank of China.
Signing of the agreement will encourage the further development of comprehensive strategic cooperation and the strengthening of Russian-Chinese relations across a range of fields, including in the finance area.
Background: ICBC Bank (JSC) was registered in Moscow in 2007 as a subsidiary of China’s largest commercial bank – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (100% stake), whose key beneficiary is the Chinese Government.