ONEXIM, RUSAL strike debt-for-equity deal

MOSCOW, March 22 (Reuters) - Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's ONEXIM group will increase its stake in aluminium company UC RUSAL to 18.5 pct from 14 percent in a $2 billion debt restructuring deal, the companies said on Sunday. "The parties have agreed that $2 billion of debt will be converted into RUSAL shares," their joint statement said. "Onexim's stake in RUSAL will consequently increase to 18.5 percent." The statement said the remaining $800 million of RUSAL's debt to ONEXIM will be restructured. "The agreement with ONEXIM is another important step in the process of RUSAL's debt restructuring," the statement said. RUSAL earlier signed a two-month standstill agreement on the $7.4 billion it owes to international banks, with a view to securing a long-term restructuring agreement. "As part of today's agreement, ONEXIM has agreed not to exercise its put option of its shares in RUSAL during the period of the standstill agreement signed with the international lending banks as well as to facilitate RUSAL's further debt restructuring," the statement said. (Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: METALS RUSSIA/ONEXIM