Russia's Evraz considers convertible bond issue in 2017-sources

MOSCOW, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 7 (Reuters) - Russia's Evraz (LSE: EVR.L - news) , one of the country's largest steelmakers, is considering a convertible bond issue, and is aiming to conduct the deal next year, two banking sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The company was thinking about doing this (the deal) this year but as far as I know has moved these plans to the next year," one of the sources said. Sources did not provide the possible amount of the deal.

Convertible bonds, a debt instrument, can be replaced by the company's equity under certain conditions. The sources did not specify the conditions, or the reasons for Evraz to consider the instrument.

In an investor presentation in October, Evraz said it aims to cut its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 2 from 4.9, which was its level in the first half of this year. Evraz net debt stood at $5.3 billion at the end of June.

Evraz, with operations in Russia, North America and some other locations, is majority owned by Roman Abramovich and his partners Alexander Abramov, Alexander Frolov and others. (Reporting by Olga Popova, Oksana Kobzeva, Svetlana Burmistrova and Katya Golubkova; editing by Christian Lowe)