North-West Telecom, the leading telecommunications service provider in Russia's North-Western Federal District, has authorized Citigroup to act as the sole organizer for a debut syndicated loan of ?50 million. This will be one of NWT’s largest financial transactions since its founding. The unsecured facility will be used for general corporate purposes. Repayment is scheduled to begin after a 15-month grace period and will be fully paid off in three years plus one month after the date of issue. Interest payable on the facility will be LIBOR plus 2% per annum.

The borrowed funds will be used for financing network modernization and digitalization, expansion of zone communications networks in the regions as well as for the development of profitable services (dedicated and dialup Internet access, building corporate communications networks and implementation of xDSL broadband access).

According to NWT Chief Executive Officer Venera Khusnutdinova, “This deal is pursuant to a corporate financial policy aimed at optimizing the capital structure, expanding financing instruments and improving the Company’s overall investment attractiveness.”

Citigrup has already started the credit syndication process on the bank market.

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