CMS advises a club of international banks on a new $420mln facility to Russian Railways

CMS has advised ING Bank N.V., London Branch and other leading international banks as mandated lead arrangers of a new $420mln five year unsecured syndicated finance facility to Russian Railways.

Russian Railways is one of the largest transportation companies in the world and is one of the largest corporates in Russia which provides a full range of services from infrastructure maintenance, engineering and logistics to freight and passenger transportation.

At the end of February, Russian Railways successfully completed two offerings of USD and RUB Eurobonds as part of its 2017 debt strategy. The new bank loan (the first syndicated finance facility for Russian Railways since 2008) with an embedded accordion option will assist the company to further diversify its borrowing sources and will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinancing of its existing debt.

CMS core team members included Prague-based banking and finance partner Mark Segall, dual-qualified counsel Elena Tchoubykina and Moscow-based associate Alexandra Kobzeva. The borrower was represented by Moscow offices of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.