Russian aluminium giant UC Rusal announced this week that it has paid off ₽61.5 billion (US$837 million) in loans to Sberbank ahead of the scheduled repayment date in the month of December.
Rusal agreed to the loan in 2010, which is backed by PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel. The loan was extended last year and features a final maturity date at the end of 2027. Rusal paid an additional ₽27 billion (US$367 million) ahead of schedule in August, bringing its total indebtedness paid ahead of schedule in 2021 to ₽88.5 billion (US$1.2 billion).
Aleksey Grenkov, Head of Corporate Finance of Rusal, said in a press release that the payment ahead of schedule is advantageous to the firm in ways beyond simply retirement of debt.
“The current repayment is again made out of the company’s free cash flow. RUSAL will continue to work on optimizing its debt portfolio and reducing the cost of borrowing.”
The loan in question has both US dollar and Russian ruble components, with US$2.1 billion and ₽18 billion (US$245 million) still outstanding. Amortization of the loan is scheduled to commence in a little less than three years.