Asters Advises a Syndicate of Lenders on Interpipe's USD 887 Million Debt Restructuring

Asters acted as Ukrainian legal counsel to Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. London Branch, ING Bank N.V. and SACE, an Italian export credit agency, in connection with the restructuring of Interpipe's debt portfolio of USD 887 million. Interpipe is one of Ukraine's largest producers of pipe products and railway wheels, supplied to more than 80 countries all over the world through a chain of commercial offices located in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Europe, the USA and the Middle East.

The restructuring terms provide for the repayment of restructured debt by 2017. Completion of the restructuring will allow Interpipe to improve its financial position and to enter into the testing and commissioning phase of Dneprosteel, the biggest electric arc furnace facility in Eastern Europe having a capacity of 1.32 million tons per year.

Asters team working on this project included partner Iryna Pokanay and associates Gabriel Aslanian, Yulia Spolitak and Oksana Muntyan. The deal demonstrated the depth and breadth of the team's capability to advise on and execute a transaction of a complex nature (project finance/export finance) that garnered a great deal of attention in the industry.