Russia's Alfa Group says pays back $2 bln loan

MOSCOW, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Russia's Alfa Group said on Thursday it had met a margin call from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) by paying it back a $2 billion loan, secured by its large stake in mobile phone operator Vimpelcom (VIP.N).

Altimo said it had refinanced the loans with a credit facility of $2 billion from Russia's state bank VEB.

"We consider Vimpelcom to be one of our key strategic investments and do not plan to sell our stake in this growing and successful company," Altimo Senior Vice President Kirill Babaev said in a statement.

Altimo is the telecoms arm of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov)