EBRD Board of Directors votes for final approval
of US$ 100m loan to FESCO

17 / 12 / 09

On December 16, 2009 the Board of Directors of EBRD approved a US$ 100m loan to FESCO, as part of the Group’s financial management and debt restructuring program.

The loan will have a 5 years maturity and the floating interest rate attached to a number of financial covenants, with the base rate of LIBOR + 4%.

The raised loan will not increase the overall leverage, replacing FESCO’s short-term debt and significantly improving the balance sheet structure and debt repayment profile.

According to Sergey Generalov, FESCO President and CEO, “the success in securing the EBRD loan will open up additional opportunities for the company in terms of access to capital, both debt and equity.”

The EBRD facility is part of the Group-wide financial management program, aimed at reducing the leverage and improving the debt profile. The implementation of this program in 2009 allowed already to reduce the Group’s debt by over US$ 300 m, from US$ 1,155 m in January 2009 to US$ 850m today. The implementation of this program is expected to allow FESCO to further reduce the debt by another US$ 300m throughout 2010.

FESCO