PRESS: Banks can postpone Mechel’s debt repayment to 2023

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (PRIME) -- Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank, three creditors of Russian debt-ridden metals producer Mechel, can postpone the redemption date of its debts by three more years, to 2023, business daily Vedomosti reported Tuesday, citing a source close to one of the banks.

In December, the Moscow Arbitration Court stopped proceedings under four Sberbank’s claims against Mechel and its affiliates. The bank and the company agreed to postpone the repayment of core debt totaling U.S. $719.8 million and 3.4 billion rubles to 2020–2023 from 2017–2020.

The source told Vedomosti: “The postponement of the debt repayment deadline is quite possible but all banks must agree to equal conditions.”

VTB and Gazprombank earlier restructured Mechel’s debts but the new deadlines were set at 2017–2020.

According to the company’s materials, Mechel’s net debt stood at $6.178 billion as of December 10.

(75.9507 rubles – U.S. $1)

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