Herbert Smith has advised the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on its largest single loan since it was founded in 1991 – a $500m (£295m) financing in Russia.

The top 10 firm advised the EBRD on a $500m 10-year unsecured loan for state-owned rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZD), with the loan tied to reforms including the restructuring of freight operations.

Moscow finance partner Edward Baring led the team for Herbert Smith assisted by banking and finance partner Artjom Buligin and finance associates Alexander Zalivako and Ivan Gavrilov.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised RZD, which is Russia's largest commercial employer, with some 1.3m staff. The magic circle firm's team was led by Moscow finance counsel Robert Lang-Anderson.

The deal means Herbert Smith has been involved in four significant loans by western banks to Russian corporates this year. The firm also advised the lending banks on a $1.35bn (£798m) loan for Rosneft, acted for Deutsche Bank on a $750m (£443m) loan for TNK-BP and advised Severneftegazprom in relation to a €1bn (£850m) bridge facility.

Baring said: "The deal size was pretty huge for the bank. They are plugging at a big funding gap in Russia because western banks are not doing much new money lending and the Russian banks are lending but are very expensive."