Bashneft Said to Invite Lenders to $600 Million Loan

(Corrects name of rating company in fifth paragraph in story published Jan. 10.)

OAO Bashneft (BANE), the Russian oil producer controlled by billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov’s AFK Sistema, is said to be seeking a three-year loan for as much as $600 million.

Lenders have been invited to commit $50 million each to the facility, according to a person with knowledge of the deal who asked not to be identified as the terms are private. The pre- export financing, a type of loan usually backed by cash flows linked to the borrower’s export contracts, is being coordinated by BNP Paribas SA and will pay an all-in margin of 315 basis points, the person said. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Sergey Verezemskiy, a Moscow-based spokesman for Bashneft, declined to comment on the financing.

The company raised a three-year $300 million loan in August 2011 paying a margin of 155 basis points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and ING Groep provided the debt.

Bashneft, which is rated Ba2 by Moody’s Investors Service and an equivalent BB ranking from Fitch Ratings, reported a 34 percent increase in third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to $962 million compared with the same period a year earlier, it said Nov. 19.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Morris in London at smorris39@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net