Moscow, 28 May 2020 –RUSAL (SEHK: 486; Moscow Exchange: RUAL), a leading global aluminium producer, announces that its $1.085bn sustainability-linked syndicated pre-export finance facility has been titled as the winner in the ‘Russian commodities finance deal of the year’ category of the 2020 ‘Perfect 10 Deals of the Year’ TXF Award.

The winners were selected through a rigorous voting process on the free user generated TXF deals database for the export, project and commodity finance markets. Following over 2,000 votes being placed during two months, the editorial team undertook an assessment focused on the most innovative and influencing transactions. 

The competition for the TXF Deals of the Year is well renowned and one of the highlights of the year in the commodity finance sector. RUSAL’s five-year PXF deal was rewarded for successfully completing the first ever sustainability-linked syndicated facility arranged by international and Russian commercial banks in Russia.

Jonathan Bell, Editor-In-Chief and Director at TXF, based in London, comments: “RUSAL is a worthy winner of the TXF Russian Commodities Finance Deal of the Year Award with its sustainability-linked $1.085 billion pre-export financing. RUSAL is obviously making great strides to clean up the smelting sector, and is also now the leading producer of so-called ‘green aluminium’ i.e. produced with hydro-powered electricity. But beyond this, RUSAL is also committed to further carbon reduction with mass tree planting and the cleaning up of towns where smelters are sited. These are major changes and it is commendable”.

Commenting on receiving the TXF award, Oleg Mukhamedshin, RUSAL’s Director for Strategy, Business Development and Financial Market, said: “Winning a TXF Award is a big achievement for the Company as it serves as an additional proof that extensive sustainability efforts of RUSAL are recognised and praised by international business and finance community. Being one of the pioneers of green aluminium production with our low-carbon aluminium brand ALLOW shows how important this issue is and we are glad to observe how the ESG principles are becoming vital for the banking community when making investment decisions. We will continue to implement our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of our aluminium production”.

In addition to receiving the 2020 TXF Award, RUSAL’s pre-export finance facility was also chosen as one of the top transactions from 2019 by the Global Trade Review’s (GTR) editorial team.

This PXF deal signed by RUSAL in 2019 combines a pre-export finance structure with a sustainability-linked feature, and includes key performance indicators (KPI’s), related to carbon footprint and decrease of fluoride emissions as well as sales of RUSAL’s low-carbon aluminium brand, ALLOW. The KPI’s are measured annually and verified by an independent and specialized third party.

In total, 11 banks, including such financial giants as ING Bank, Natixis, Bank of China, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, Societe Generale, UniCredit S. p.A., RCB Bank LTD, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Ireland Plc, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Bank ZENIT (Public Joint Stock Company) and Sberbank of Russia came together to loan US$1.085bn to RUSAL. The proceeds of the facility are being used to partly refinance the principal outstanding under the existing up to USD 2 billion pre-export finance facility that was drawn in May 2017.

Note

RUSAL is the largest producer of green aluminium in the world. The smelters which produce its low-carbon aluminium ALLOW have a carbon footprint four times lower than the industry average (scope 1&2). RUSAL continues to pioneer new technology which is focused on eliminating its greenhouse gas emissions. The Company’s extensive sustainability program and other efforts on following the ESG principles has been numerously recognized by many influential institutions.

TXF is a media company headquartered in London, which focuses on news, data and events in the trade, commodity, export and project finance sectors. The company is privately owned and was established in 2013. Commodity and export finance newsletters are produced daily through www.txfnews.com.  The TXF database is housed at www.tagmydeals.com And project finance news and intelligence is delivered through the sister company Proximo www.proximoinfra.com.