MOSCOW – Russian aluminum giant UC Rusal paid back a portion of pre-export finance (PXF) totaling $907 million in Q1 2017, the aluminum giant said in a presentation.
The company also paid back $400 million in trade financing.
Overall repayments last quarter exceeded $1.5 billion, Rusal’s Director of Strategy, Business Development and Financial Markets, Oleg Mukhamedshin, said on a conference call. The repayments were carried out primarily through funds raised from a $600 million eurobond issue, $145 million in panda bonds, and a $285 million loan.
Rusal’s net repayments at the end of Q1 totaled $318 million. Overall debt fell from $8.965 billion to $8.618 billion.
As a result of the repayments, the amount of debt Rusal has to pay back in 2017 has fallen to $500 million. Given the placement of a second issue of $600 million in eurobonds in April, Rusal will have to pay creditors $1.1 billion next year, most of it on PXF financing, a deal on which could be reached in the coming weeks; and $1 billion in 2019. Most of the repayments are due in 2020 and 2021 at $2.9 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively, and mostly to Sberbank.
The company’s net debt/EBITDA ratio at the end of Q1 stood at 3.2x, as at the end of 2016. Unsecured debt rose to 6% of the total at end-2016 to 20% at end-Q1.
In Ukraine, Rusal controls 29.54% of Zaporizhia aluminum via the Cyprus-registered Velbay Holding.
