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CMS advises syndicate of banks on USD 250 million loan

26/03/2013

Law firm CMS has advised UniCredit, Raiffeisen and Sberbank as lenders of a 5-year USD 250 million loan to GeoProMining (“GPM”), a diversified metals resource company operating gold and copper mines in Russia and Armenia.

GPM obtained the long-term financing through its Dutch holding company Karlou B.V. with recourse to its Russian and Armenian key operating subsidiaries. The loan was split in two tranches according to the purposes of financing: one for refinancing of existing indebtedness, and a second to be used for general corporate purposes and capex. Both tranches carry similar 5-year tenor.

CMS lead partner Mark Segall commented: "The transaction required a hybrid form of structure in which LMA standard documentation for corporate facilities was enhanced by the core components of a pre-export financing based on deliveries of gold as GPM’s principal commodity. We are pleased to have assisted the lenders in developing this tailored structure that enabled the borrower to make a successful debut transaction in the international syndicated loans market."

CMS’s CEE Banking Group, a Prague-based centre of excellence for English law governed finance transactions in the region, has recently been involved in a number of financings in the Russian/CIS natural resources sector. Last year the team advised the banks on one of the largest transactions in Ukraine, a EUR 416 million loan to DTEK, the country’s leading coal and energy company.

The core teaebreakm that advised the banks on this transaction consisted of partner Mark Segall, senior associate Elitsa Ivanova, associate Frances Gerrard and trainee solicitor Anushka Nayak. The team also involved partners Konstantin Baranov from CMS in Moscow and Eduard Scheenstra from CMS in Amsterdam. The borrower was represented by Allen & Overy.