RusHydro repays foreign loans ahead of schedule
MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - RusHydro has repaid ahead of schedule 10.653 billion rubles on a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and 1.125 billion rubles on a loan from Bavarian state bank, Rushydro said in its 2016 RAS earnings report.
RusHydro raised two 10-year loans from the EBRD totaling 12.4 billion rubles in 2011 and, in 2014, extended their terms to 2025 and 2026. It also raised a loan of 16.5 million euro from Bayerische Landesbank, maturing in 2025, to finance replacement of a hydropower unit at the Saratovskaya Hydroelectric Station.
A RusHydro subsidiary, RAO Energy Systems of East , earlier repaid 7.1 billion rubles on loans from the EBRD and the European Investment Bank (EIB) using a new loan received from VTB .
"RusHydro repaid all its ruble loans from the EBRD and EIB, whose rates were too high compared with the current cost of borrowing," a company spokesman told Interfax. The Bayerische Landesbank loan was repaid as part of measures undertaken to reduce currency risk. The project that loan was used to finance, modernization of the 24th hydropower unit at the Saratovskaya HPP, has already been completed. That early repayment was motivated by the extremely high cost of the loan, which was tied to the Mosprime rate, compared with currently available load interest rates. "If they had been loans from Russian banks on similar terms, we would have repaid them as well," the spokesman said.
RusHydro's long-term borrowings declined by 10.1 billion rubles in 2016. The company placed 15 billion rubles in bonds in April, reduced debt to Credit Agricole to 5.6 billion rubles from 6.9 billion rubles and debt to UniCredit Bank Austria to 4.95 billion rubles from 6.9 billion rubles.
RusHydro plans to further optimize its debt portfolio, but no specific decisions have been made yet, the spokesman said.
This year, RusHydro had the ability to raise funds at these foreign banks and draw on loans from VTB for 30 billion rubles (maturing in 2020), Sberbank of Russia for up to 40 billion rubles (2026), Gazprombank for up to 20 billion rubles (2026), and Rossiya Bank for up to 6 billion rubles (2019), RusHydro said in its RAS earnings report.