MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Norilsk Nickel has completed the offering of exchange-traded bonds amounting to 5 bln yuan, the Russian mining and metals company said on Thursday.

Bonds will be mature in 3.5 years, with an option of investors for early redemption in three years from the offering date. The par value of bonds is 1,000 yuan each and the coupon period is 91 days.

The bond issue was included into the second quotation list of the Moscow Exchange. Gazprombank acted as the arranger and the agent for the placement.

The placement of yuan-denominated bonds "is an absolutely natural step in the current market conditions and is a very attractive alternative to traditional foreign currency debt instruments for the Company," Norilsk Nickel Senior Vice President and CFO Sergey Malyshev said in a comment. "Oversubscription in this debut issuance, that allowed increasing the amount and decreasing the coupon rate, confirms healthy interest of a wide range of investors towards this instrument, which is relatively new for the Russian debt capital market," he added.