* Sberbank CEO says has refinanced $4.5 bln RUSAL debt
* Fellow Russian bank VEB also part of the deal
* October-due debt was seen as key risk for IPO
MOSCOW, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Russia's UC RUSAL, the world's biggest aluminium producer, has secured a critical refinancing deal for a looming $4.5 billion debt ahead of pricing its ground-breaking Hong Kong IPO later on Thursday.
The company, which will become the first non-Asian firm to launch a primary share offering in Hong Kong, warned in its IPO prospectus that it might cease to be a going concern if it failed to renegotiate the loan owed to state bank VEB.
German Gref, chief executive of Sberbank , Russia's biggest lender, told reporters it had agreed to refinance the loan on an equal basis with VEB. The debt had been due on Oct. 29 and was one of the major concerns for Hong Kong regulators when they blocked the IPO from retail investors late last year.
RUSAL is being floated by Russian industrial tycoon and majority owner Oleg Deripaska, partly to pay down a near $15 billion debt pile owed to around 70 banks both in Russia and overseas.
The company's banks are set to close the books on the IPO at 1500 GMT and will subsequently hold a meeting in New York to determine the final pricing of the 1.6 billion shares, a little under 11 percent of the group.
Several sources told Reuters on Wednesday the IPO would be priced in the top half of the original range, coming in at HK $10.8 to HK $12, which would raise just under $2.5 billion.
RUSAL's IPO had originally been seen as a major risk for investors due to its heavy debt burden, reliance on the aluminium market and an outstanding London court case against Deripaska by a former business associate.
Separately, Sberbank's Gref also said the bank would increase provisions for bad loans in 2010, highlighting the debt problem that still hovers over Russia.
(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva, Writing by John Bowker, editing by Will Waterman)
豫公网安备41010502003434号