RLPC-Russian LUKOIL signing $1.2 bln loan-bankers

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Russian oil firm LUKOIL (LKOH.MM) is signing a $1.2 billion syndicated loan with a group of 12 banks, banking sources close to the deal said on Friday.

The club deal pays a margin of more than 400 basis points (bps) over LIBOR, one of the sources said.

The deal is structured as a secured pre-export financing to provide extra security for lenders.

The gobal economic crisis has hit Russia hard, and this is only the fourth major syndicated loan agreed for Russian firms this year. The others are oil companies Rosneft and TNK-BP (TNBPI.RTS) and cellphone operator MTS (MBT.N). [ID:LQ435637] [ID:nLL238851] [ID:nLT1021728].

Bankers say appetite for Russian lending from foreign banks is improving, helped by oil prices hitting an eight-month high in June.

Russian sovereign risk has come down dramatically since the beginning of the year, also improving sentiment in the loan market -- Russian five-year CDS was nearly 800 bps in February, down to 340 bps now.

More oil companies are preparing to borrow, with Tatneft (TATN3.MM) close to a $600 million-$1 billion pre-export loan for its Nizhnekamsk refinery project and Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) also in talks with lenders for a secured loan, bankers said. [ID:nL5618592]

LUKOIL's previous syndicated loan, agreed in April 2008, paid margins of 85-95 bps. That unsecured $1 billion loan was split between a $300 million, three-year tranche A that paid 85 bps and a $700 million, five-year tranche B that paid 95 bps.

(Reporting by Christopher Mangham and Alasdair Reilly)