Report: CEO: No prerequisites for RussNeft bankruptcy

MOSCOW, Sep 17 (PRIME) -- There are no real prerequisites for a bankruptcy of Russian oil company RussNeft, the situation has been exaggerated, CEO Yevgeny Tolochek said in an interview with RBC, released on Thursday.

“Nobody in RussNeft has ever thought about (a bankruptcy) as there are no real prerequisites for it, the situation was overblown. As of today, the company is feeling absolutely well. We are in an office, and as you can see everything is working although we were to have a technical default in April,” he said.

Tolochek also said that RussNeft does not plan to request prolongation of the bankruptcy moratorium beyond September 30.

RussNeft missed two principal payments for the total amount of U.S. $46 million due in March and June 2020 under its $1,172 million loan originally provided by the VTB Bank and was downgraded to a pre-default rating by international agencies Moody’s and Fitch.

Tolochek said that his company reduced the 2020 investment program by over 35% from the earlier planned 26 billion rubles in February.

He also said that RussNeft still aims for paying dividends on common shares and plans to increase payments to $100 million.

(74.9278 rubles – U.S. $1)

End