Rosneft looks for $1bn loan

State owned oil and gas company Rosneft is putting together a $1bn-plus loan, EuroWeek understands. Bankers said this week that they had heard different estimates about how big the loan would be; those ranged between $1bn and $2bn — $1.5bn was the area most quoted to EuroWeek yesterday (Thursday) by officials who said they knew of the deal.

It was reported earlier this year that Rosneft was looking for a new $1bn deal which would be earmarked for environmental projects backed by the EIB and the EBRD.

But according to bankers this week, this facility would be used to refinance the last of Rosneft’s short term debt from its 2007 $22bn jumbo loan. That deal was split into $13bn piece and a $9bn loan, with maturities ranging between 12 and 18 months.

Earlier this year, Rosneft stated that it had already repaid $5.8bn of "the short term acquisition debt drawn down in early 2007", partly from free cashflow and partly with the proceeds of a $3.425bn facility signed earlier this year.

Bankers intimated that the new deal Rosneft was putting together would also be a one year loan — a club deal or a bridge facility.

"You have to ask what the purpose would be of refinancing a short term bridge with another short term bridge," said one official. "The first bridge was supposed to be taken out in the capital markets, and that hasn’t happened. It was a bridge to a bond, not a bridge to a bridge."