China Development Bank contributes to $1.2 billion syndicated loan with Gazprombank for general corporate and refinancing purposes

Project narrative

On August 10, 2011, a senior group of 14 lenders signed a $1.2 billion loan agreement with Gazprombank for general corporate and refinancing purposes. The loan was launched into syndication in September 2011. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, BTMU, China Development Bank (CDB), Citi, Credit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING, JP Morgan, Mizuho, SMBC, Societe Generale and WestLB joined the syndicated loan agreement. ING co-ordinated the transaction. This loan carried a maturity of three years and a variable interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 1.50% (150 basis points). The borrower, whose access to international capital markets was hit by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, repaid the loan 'on time' on August 8, 2014. The borrower ultimately used the proceeds of the loan to prepay a more expensive, 2-year, $900 million syndicated loan that it raised in September 2010 at an interest rate of LIBOR plus a 2.50% margin.