A group of major investment banks has entered informal talks to lend a record $7 billion to finance Russia's purchase of an additional stake in Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, banking sources said on Tuesday. Negotiating final terms of the loan, which would be the biggest ever advanced by foreign banks to Russia, hit a last minute snag over an initial $600 million payment but a full deal is still expected to be hammered out in a few weeks, the sources said.
The loan was due to be made in three instalments, with $600 million drawn down this week, an $800-million payment in a few months and a final loan of around $5.8 billion at the end of the year, said a source familiar with the deal.
"This is a very complicated deal and the whole structure is still being nailed down," one banker told Reuters.
The banks leading the negotiations are Morgan Stanley, ABN Amro and J.P. Morgan with BNP Paribas, Barclays Plc and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein also in the group, the sources said.
"We do not deny that we are participating in talks on financing for Gazprom," said Vladimir Tumarkin, Morgan Stanley's representative in Moscow.