Alrosa To Vote On Raising $1.7B From Russian Banks

(IDEX Online News) – Russian diamond miner Alrosa aims to raise up to $1.7 billion in loans from Russian banks VTB and Alfa bank, the company said.

Alrosa, the biggest diamond producer in the world by volume with annual output of around 34 million carats, will consider raising up to $1 billion loan from VTB and $720 million from Alfa Bank.

The company will decide on the issue at its annual general meeting on June 28.

The proceeds will be used partly to refinance existing debt, the miner said in a statement.

Alrosa, which is due to repay $1.3 billion debt between April 1 and the end of 2014, has previously planned to raise cash for refinancing from the sale of its oil and gas assets to Russian oil giant Rosneft for $1.4 billion.