Abramovich’s Evraz gets £45m loan from taxpayer

UK Export Finance is to lend £45 million to Evraz, which is controlled by Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner
UK Export Finance is to lend £45 million to Evraz, which is controlled by Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner
TONY O’BRIEN/REUTERS

Taxpayers are to lend £45 million to a company controlled by Roman Abramovich, one of the world’s richest men, as part of a government export drive.

Part of the £45 million loan to Evraz, the international steel mills group, will be used to contract Primetals Technologies, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Siemens, to upgrade its steelmaking facility in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Under UK Export Finance rules, which are more relaxed than many other countries’ export credit agencies, only 25 per cent of a loan needs to support jobs in the UK. Primetals has an office in London and UKEF said that the loan to Evraz would support jobs at Primetal’s design and engineering studios in Sheffield, where it used to be known as