Russian gas monopoly Gazprom won agreement on Monday from Western banks on a record $12 billion loan to fund its take-over of Sibneft, the oil firm controlled by Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich.
Senior bankers said the loan, subject to credit committee approvals this week, was agreed at a meeting in Moscow earlier on Monday with top Gazprom officials. The financing package, the largest ever for a Russian firm, will be in four portions, including a one-year bridge loan of at least $5 billion.
The remainder would be made up of a syndicated loan in three tranches of 18 months, three years and five years, to be refinanced partly via a bond sale.
"We have agreed ... It's all going ahead," said one banker who participated in the meeting. No pricing details were given.
Another banker added: "We expect to get credit committee approvals by the end of this week."
The group of Western banks comprised: ABN Amro, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
Bankers said the financing would pave the way for Gazprom to bid for Russia's No 5 oil producer Sibneft, which would boost the state's control of Russia's oil output to over a third.
There was no immediate word on details of the underlying transaction but Interfax news agency reported last week that Gazprom and Sibneft were close to a deal.
It said Gazprom was offering half of the seller's asking price of $14 billion for the 72 percent owned by Abramovich's firm Millhouse Capital. Gazprom and Sibneft have declined to comment.
The loan comes hot on the heels of a $7.5 billion financing deal agreed last week to fund Russia's acquisition of a 10.7 percent stake in Gazprom, securing state control over the gas giant and paving the way for curbs on foreign ownership of its stock to be lifted.
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