Fuel distributor Petrol seeks EUR 50-60m financing
Bulgaria’s blue-blooded fuel distributor Petrol AD will aim to secure a syndicated loan for at least EUR 50 million-60 million loans from foreign lenders by the end of the year, market sources told Dnevnik.
The company and some owners of its parent -- Petrol Holding, did not reject the report.
The financing will be used to guarantee the repayment of Petrol’s EUR 100 million bond maturing in October 2011. The balance most likely reflects the share of bonds repurchased by Petrol’s owner or will come from a separate source, Dnevnik learnt.
Petrol Holding executives are currently looking at ways to take a loan from London-based banks, planning to bring in a number of financial institutions with a view to avoiding the risk associated with the exposure in one company.
The foreign syndicated loan is an alternative option to a potential sale of property to pay down the debt. It will also give Petrol’s owners more confidence in talks with oil company Gazprom Neft, a unit of Russian oil and gas heavyweight Gazprom, for the sale of 200 petrol stations and 10 oil bases bundled in the subsidiary Elit Petrol. As Dnevnik already report, Petrol hopes to pocket a bottom EUR 200-300 million from the sale of the assets, but the Russian company is ready to pay much less.
“Elit Petrol will be either sold or used to refinance the bond. In case we fail to reach sale, we are in talks with a slew of banks,” Mitko Sabev, an owner of Petrol Holding, told business weekly Capital in a recent interview.
News about the syndicated loan comes just days after global credit agency Fitch placed Petrol's long-term issuer default rating of 'CC' on rating watch negative on solvency concerns.
(Dnevnik)
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