Russia’s Norilsk Nickel may issue green Eurobonds

MOSCOW, Nov 10 (PRIME) -- Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel may issue green Eurobonds to fund a U.S. $1.74 billion sulfur dioxide capture project for Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, Artyom Pozdnyakov, head of the department for organization of financing, told PRIME on Thursday, soon after Norilsk signed a deal with Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin for the project.

Norilsk Nickel will work out plans for the project’s financing next year. “We will look at what instruments that will be there. The project is large, and it will be under construction for a long time, more than a year. Design documentation will be prepared in nine to 12 months, and after that we will look at what instruments there are on the market,” Pozdnyakov said.

“They may include financing secured by export agencies, or green bonds…They suit us, but nothing is so simple. We should receive approval of a consultant that this project is green, so that the bonds are green. We will have to demonstrate the project, all technical aspects and so on fully.

If we buy Western equipment for that, it will be secured by export agencies, and other (possible options) include corporate financing, green bonds, or a series of these bonds, if we manage to do that.”

Norilsk Nickel said previously that the project represents the second phase of the company’s environmental program with a goal to reduce air emissions at the Polar Division by 75%. The first phase included downstream reconfiguration and asset modernization.

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