Russia’s Mechel replaces 6 people in management board

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (PRIME) -- Russia’s metals and mining group Mechel has cut the number of managers on its board to nine people from 11 and replaced six of them, who left the company this year, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mechel’s management has not been reelected for over a year.

The new board consists of reelected CEO Oleg Korzhov, Vice President Yelena Selivanova, Legal Department Director Irina Ipeyeva and new members: First Deputy CEO Alexei Ivanushkin, Vice President Andrei Slivchenko, Vice President Valery Sheverdin, Mechel Steel CEO Vladimir Tytsky, Mechel Mining CEO Pavel Shtark and Mechel Trans CEO Alexei Lebedev.

Shtark was also approved as Mechel Mining CEO instead of Boris Nikishichev, while Slivchenko was approved as Vice President for finance instead of Stanislav Ploshchenko.

Over the last year six members of the management board left the company: Vice Presidents Mikhail Urvantsev and Andrei Deineko, ex-CEO Yevgeny Mikhel, CEO of Donetsk electrometallurgical plant Gennady Ovchinnikov, Director for treasury operations Sergei Shuvalov and Mechel Trans’ Chairman of board of directors Alexander Starodubov.

In July, presidential aide Andrei Belousov said the Russian government approved two schemes of saving Mechel, whose net debt stands at U.S. $8.3 billion; both options were about converting the company’s debt into shares. The first option implies the participation of Vnesheconombank (VEB), while other option implies other creditor banks entering the capital without the participation of VEB.

In June, Kommersant said that Gazprombank, VTB and Sberbank will provide Mechel with a 215 billion ruble loan to help it repay the debt, but later VTB said it will not give the company any new money.

Mechel owes $2.3 billion to Gazprombank, $1.8 billion to VTB and $1.3 billion to Sberbank.

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