Petropavlovsk mulling over potential debt restructuring

Russia-focussed gold producer Petropavlovsk said on Wednesday that it was in the early stages of discussions with advisers and Gazprombank relating to a potential restructuring of the group's debt.

Petropavlovsk stated that following the inclusion of Gazprombank on the UK sanctions list, it had been prohibited from repaying more than $10.0m it owed to the bank as a consequence of the regulations.

The London-listed firm has a $200.0m committed term loan with Gazprombank, as well as $86.7m in revolving credit facilities made available to certain subsidiaries in Russia. An interest payment of $560,000 was due on 25 March under the term loan, which the company was blocked from making under the regulations, while on 28 March, the rouble equivalent of $9.5m became repayable under the revolving credit facilities, which also has not been paid.

"In light of the above and the scheduled maturity in November 2022 of the $500.0m 8.125% guaranteed notes due 2022 issued by Petropavlovsk 2016 Limited (of which $304.0m remains outstanding), the company is in the early stages of discussions with its advisers and GPB relating to a potential restructuring of the group's debt within the limitations imposed by the regulations," said Petropavlovsk.