Aug 16 (Reuters) - Debt-laden UC RUSAL (0486.HK), the world's largest aluminum producer, has reached agreement with Russian state-run bank Sberbank (SBER03.MM) on easier terms for a $4.58 billion loan facility.
RUSAL said the maturity of the debt, secured in September 2010 and due December 7 2013, would be extended to 2016, with the interest rate reduced to Libor plus 4.5 percent down from 5.0 percent previously.
In addition, a $2.25 billion guarantee against the loan provided by Vneshekonombank (VEB) has been terminated, a joint RUSAL and Sberbank statement said on Tuesday.
VEB's guarantee dates back to a loan it made to RUSAL in November 2008, and which was used to repay some RUSAL borrowings obtained in April 2008 from a syndicate of banks.
"The...agreements strongly improve the corporate debt profile and enable us to cut debt service expenses," Oleg Mukhamedshin, RUSAL's director for equity and corporate development said in the statement.
"The improvement of the Sberbank loan is one of the stages of RUSAL's full debt refinancing which is expected to close by the end of September this year."
RUSAL, controlled by the tycoon Oleg Deripaska, used the original syndicated loan to help finance its purchase of 25 percent of the world's largest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM).
Deripaska and fellow Norilsk shareholder Vladimir Potanin are engaged in a boardroom battle over the future of Norilsk's strategy.
RUSAL had $11.4 billion of borrowings as of March 31 this year. The company made first quarter net profit of $746 million, but this included a $715 million gain for derivates revaluation and a tax expense.
Analysts say the reduction in the loan rate would not significantly affect Sberbank's profit.
"The RUSAL loan represents around 2 percent of Sberbank's total loan portfolio. The profit impact of the reduction in the lending rate is minimal -less than 0.1 percent," Deutsche Bank said in a research note on Tuesday.
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