OREANDA-NEWS. December 15, 2011. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbol: RTS, MICEX, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that it has secured 10-year loan facility in the amount of RUR 8 billion (the equivalent of EUR 192 million) from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD funding will enable RusHydro to push ahead with a planned restructuring of recently acquitted RAO Energy Systems of the Far East.

In 2010, the EBRD supported RusHydro's debut Eurobond placement, taking up 22.5% of a 5-year rouble bond launched by the company, the first such instrument issued by a Russian power sector company. Konstantin Bessmertny, a member of  RusHydro's Management Board, commented: "We are very pleased to receive support from our long-term partner, the EBRD, and look forward to developing our relationship further."

"We are glad to support RysHydro, a long-standing client of the Bank in these challenging times for debt markets. This 10-year facility clearly demonstrates the Bank's continuous commitment to the Russian power sector and we hope that our contribution will help develop the Far Eastern energy system", said Nandita Parshad, Director, Power & Energy Utilities of the EBRD.

The strategy of RusHydro on development of the Far Eastern power sector will include substitution of economically inefficient thermal power  plants with efficient low-cost generation, conclusion of bilateral power-purchasing agreements with consumers both for existing capacities and generation assets under construction, realization of opportunities of electricity export to neighboring countries and carrying out of investment projects using mechanisms of private-public partnerships and project financing.