18 November 2011, Minsk. Sberbank of Russia and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed an agreement to provide a US $1 billion syndicated loan to Belaruskali. The agreement was executed today in Minsk by German Gref, Sberbank’s CEO and Chairman of the Board, Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board, and Valery Kiriyenko, General Director of Belaruskali. Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich and Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belarus Alexander Surikov were present at signing.
Sberbank is the arranger, agent and collateral agent. The loan is provided to finance Belaruskali’s general corporate purposes.
“This loan is Sberbank’s largest transaction for a Belarusian party,” said German Gref, Sberbank’s CEO and Chairman of the Board. “It is very important to us that the borrower is Belaruskali, one of the country’s leading companies in terms of creditworthiness and financial stability. We are convinced that the financing of this enterprise will help improve macroeconomic situation in the country and promote capital and investment flows to Belarus.”
“We consider this project in the context of our strategic goals to foster the growth, modernisation and competitiveness of the EDB member states,” emphasised Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board. “In addition, the project will have a significant integration effect because Belaruskali supplies its products to more than fifty countries, including the EDB member states.”
Sberbank of Russia is Russia’s largest bank accounting for about 27% of the Russian banking assets and employing about 240,000 people. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is Sberbank’s founder and main shareholder with over 60% of voting shares. Other shareholders are more than 245,000 individuals and legal entities. The bank has Russia’s largest network of 17 territorial banks, about 19,000 offices and internal divisions, as well as subsidiary banks in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus, a branch in India, and representative offices in Germany and China.The bank holds Bank of Russia’s General Banking Licence 1481.Sberbank’s official website: www.sberbank.ru.
Belaruskali is one of the world’s leading producers of potash fertilisers, with a global share of about 16% and annual production of more than 8 million tonnes. Belaruskali supplies its products to more than fifty countries. It develops the Starobin deposit, one of the world’s largest and CIS’s second largest potash deposits with in-place reserves of more than 900 million tonnes of K2O. Belaruskali is a fully state-owned enterprise.
