Sberbank lends Gazprom $3 bln for oil arm buy-back

MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) - Russia's top lender, state-run Sberbank (SBER03.MM) has provided gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM) with a $3 billion loan to help it buy-back a stake in its oil arm from Italy's Eni (ENI.MI), Sberbank said on Monday.

Sberbank said the credit was provided for five years.

Gazprom agreed to buy-back 20 percent in Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) from Eni in early April for over $4.1 billion and said the deal would be mainly financed by Russian state banks such as Sberbank, VTB (VTBR.MM) and government agent VEB. [ID:nL7407475]

(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Melissa Akin)