X5 Retail Group secures ruble credit commitment from Sberbank

X5 Retail Group and Sberbank have reached an agreement on the refinancing of X5’s USD1.1 billion syndicated loan with December 2010 maturity. The Sberbank facility takes the form of a five-year ruble-denominated committed credit line of up to USD1.1 billion in local currency. X5 plans to begin drawing on the facility in the fourth quarter of 2010, while the line is fully committed until then. Lev Khasis, X5 Retail Group CEO, commented: "This is the first ‘forward start’ credit facility of such size in Russia. For X5, it secures a means for refinancing our syndicated loan a year before we need it."