Mechel Agreed on Covenant Holidays With Sberbank
MOSCOW, Dec. 9, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mechel OAO (NYSE:MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces reaching agreement on covenant holidays on bilateral credit lines from Sberbank of Russia amounting to 44.9 billion rubles (approximately 1.36 billion US dollars*) until the end of 2014.
"We are grateful for Sberbank's support of Mechel's revised development strategy, which includes a gradual decrease of our debt burden as one of its basic elements. The signed agreement is yet another proof of our mutually beneficial and efficient partnership. Obtaining Sberbank's agreement to covenant holidays will enable the company to continue implementing our new development strategy, which was approved last year, and overcome the period of global market volatility," Mechel OAO's Chief Financial Officer Stanislav Ploschenko stated.
* Based on the Russian Central Bank exchange rate of 32.95 RUR/$ as of December 9, 2013.
Mechel is an international mining and steel company which employs over 80,000 people. Its products are marketed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, heat and electric power. All of its enterprises work in a single production chain, from raw materials to high value-added products.
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.
Contact
Mechel OAO
Ekaterina Videman
Tel: +7 495 221-88-88
Ekaterina.Videman@mechel.com