Gazprombank’s role is crucial because Petropavlovsk has guaranteed some of IRC’s loans from the Russian lender. The deal with Stocken is contingent on removing the Gazprombank guarantees, which has been a strategic priority for Petropavlovsk.
Avalon said it had also arranged for the refinancing of IRC’s debt — a step which would have allowed the Gazprombank guarantees to be removed. The transaction, which according to a person familiar with the matter would have involved a prepayment from trading house Trafigura, and according to Avalon “could have been closed by now and was clearly much more advanced than Stocken’s bid.”