RTPR advises the banks on a new refinancing for Alro

RTPR has assisted Banca de Export Import a României (Eximbank) SA as the coordinating mandated lead arranger, as well as the syndicate of banks comprising Banca Comercială Intesa Sanpaolo Romania SA, Banca Transilvania SA, CEC Bank SA, Garanti Bank SA, ING Bank NV Amsterdam Bucharest Branch, International Bank for Economic Co-operation, OTP Bank Romania SA, Raiffeisen Bank Romania SA and UniCredit Bank SA in relation to the maturity extension of revolving facilities and modification of the syndicate structure under a secured term and multicurrency revolving facilities agreement granted to Alro SA, as borrower as well as in relation to related security.

Alro is one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers in Europe by production capacity and one of Romania’s largest companies.

A mixed team of lawyers from RTPR and Allen & Overy were involved in this project. The RTPR team was coordinated by Victor Padurari (Partner) and Andreea Burtoiu (Counsel) and further included Lia Ilie (Associate) and Andreea Stoiciu (Associate). Attila K Csongrady (Counsel) and Peter Redo (Senior Associate), English qualified lawyers, were part of Allen & Overy team.

“We are very happy to have closed this refinancing for Alro alongside our colleagues and friends from Allen & Overy. Our banking and finance teams have a rich history of advising on the most complex and sophisticated transactions in Central and Eastern Europe, being preferred by the clients for our vast expertise in this field. We thank our clients for their trust and we are pleased to see that banks continue to show their interest for solid companies such as Alro, even in the current pandemic context.”, declared Victor Padurari.

“We are honoured to have assisted the lenders in relation to this new refinancing of Alro’s debt. We have previously advised the banks on several rounds of financing granted to Alro, the last one being closed at the beginning of last year. It was a complex transaction which included Romanian law and English law aspects and we are proud to add it to the impressive deal portfolio of our banking and finance team.”, declared Andreea Burtoiu.

RTPR’s Banking & Finance team is recognised for its unmatched experience in the most important transactions in Romania and in the region. International legal guides Legal 500 and IFLR1000 position RTPR’s Banking & Finance practice on the top tier in the rankings for Romania, while 6 of its lawyers specialised in this field are recommended as Leading Lawyers in the individual rankings.

Selected financings in which RTPR and Allen & Overy have been recently involved are set out below:
►    BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Société Générale and UniCredit acting as Underwriters, Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, Société Générale and Komerční banka acting as facility agent and security agent, respectively on the EUR1.150 billion financing of the CME acquisition, a media group which also includes ProTV, by PPF Group N.V.
►    Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski S.A. (PKO Bank Polski) on the PLN73 million and EUR5.5 million financing granted to Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych S.A., a stem cells bank based in Poland and the largest in Europe
►    a syndicate of banks made up of Raiffeisen Bank International and Raiffeisen Bank Romania as coordinators and Raiffeisen Bank International, Banca Transilvania, UniCredit Bank, Garanti Bank and Intesa SanPaolo Romania as lenders on a credit facility in amount of approximately USD 68 million granted to Alro for covering general corporate needs and working capital of the company as well as future investments
►    the syndicate of banks made up of ING Bank N.V. through ING Bank N.V. Amsterdam – Bucharest Branch, Banca Comerciala Romana, Raiffeisen Bank SA and UniCredit Bank SA on a USD 360 million credit facility granted to KMG International group for covering the regular needs in the group activity
►    an international financial institution on a USD60m secured financing to SNTGN Transgaz SA Medias, the national gas transmission grid operator, for the construction of Phase 1 of the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria pipeline/corridor (BRUA project)