Ukraine’s Finance Ministry says a deal has been agreed with Russia’s Sberbank to work out a restructuring deal for commercial loans guaranteed by the Ukrainian government.
Sberbank and two Ukrainian companies, Ukravtodor and Yuzhnoye State Design Office, "have agreed to work together to achieve a settlement of the transaction as soon as possible," the ministry said in a statement on January 13.
It did not say how much the loans were for, but in December Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk referred to $507 million of Ukrainian commercial debt held by Russian banks that the government was seeking to restructure.
Most of Ukraine's external debt has been successfully swapped, apart from a $3 billion Eurobond held entirely by Russia.
The Finance Ministry repeated on January 13 that it was ready to negotiate a restructuring of the Eurobond.
