Active Commercial AidData Chinese Aid

ICBC (JSC) participates in 4-year, $245 million PxF facility to Polymetal International for refinancing and general corporate purposes

$49M USD

Funder	Bank ICBC (JSC) (ICBC Moscow)
Recipient Organization	Solidcore Resources plc (formerly Polymetal International plc)
Country	Kazakhstan
Start Date	Nov 06, 2015
End Date	Jul 08, 2028
Duration	4,628 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`105894`

Grant Description

ICBC (JSC) participates in 4-year, $245 million PxF facility with Polymetal in 2015 On November 6, 2015, Polymetal International plc signed a 4-year, $245 million PxF facility agreement with a group of banks to refinance maturing debt and for general corporate purposes.

UniCredit Bank Austria AG served as a mandated lead arranger and coordinator; Natixis, PJSC Rosbank, and Societe Generale served as mandated lead arrangers; and ICBC (JSC) served as a lead arranger. The facility had an amortization repayment schedule and its final maturity date is November 6, 2019.

The agreement included an accordion feature, which allowed the borrower to request an increase of the facility of an amount up to $105 million. If utilized, this would bring the total amount available under the PXF facility to up to $350 million.

📋 Staff Comments

A pre-export finance (PXF) facility is an arrangement in which a commodity producer gets up-front cash from a customer in return for a promise to repay the customer with that commodity (possibly at a discount) in the future. PXF funds may be advanced by a lender or syndicate of lenders to a commodity producer to assist the company in meeting either its working capital needs (for example, to cover the purchase of raw materials and costs associated with processing, storage and transport) or its capital investment needs (for example, investment in plant and machinery and other elements of infrastructure). PXF facilities are usually secured by (1) an assignment of rights by the producer under an ‘offtake contract’ (i.e., a sale and purchase contract between the producer and a buyer of that producer of goods or commodities), and (2) a collection account charge over a bank account into which proceeds due to the producer from the buyer of the goods or commodities under the offtake contract are credited. There are two key documents in prepayment finance transactions: a contract providing for the advance payment by the offtaker to the producer for the purchase of goods/commodities (the 'Prepayment Contract'), and a loan agreement between a lender and the offtaker (the 'Offtaker Loan Agreement') under which the advance payment is financed.
The precise monetary value of ICBC’s contribution to the $245 million PxF facility. For the time being, AidData assumes equal contributions ($49 million) across the five known members of the syndicate.
Polymetal International plc is a Kazakh precious mining company registered in AIFC, Astana, Kazakhstan. It is listed on the Astana International Exchange and Moscow Exchange

📚 Sources & References

Polymetal signs up to $350m PXF facility Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.