RIA Novosti According to Mechel, EDB and Mechel Mining settle a RUB 2 billion claim
The representative said the parties had no plans to take any further procedural action with respect to the dispute. This statement was made after the hearing of VTB's claim against Mechel ended. Judge Iraida Yeryomina, who is in charge of both cases, said that EDB's claim was not heard on Tuesday because the parties failed to appear, and suggested that further details of the case should be obtained from arbitration files.EDB claimed that the defendant pay a debt under the non-revolving credit facility agreement dated 22 June 2011. The lender under the agreement was Yakutugol, also of Mechel Group, and Mechel Mining secured the loan. EDB and Mechel Mining's representatives did not appear at the court on Tuesday. The court may refuse to consider a claim if a plaintiff loses interest in it, in particular, if they fail repeatedly to ensure that their representative appear in the court, or do not request that the case be considered in their absence.
On 15 September, the Court of Arbitration of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic approved the settlement agreement with respect to EBD's claim against Yakutugol. In accordance with the agreement, the Bank extended the repayment period until 22 June 2018 and decided not to charge a default interest of approximately RUB 205 million. Yakutugol acknowledged a debt of RUB 1.96 billion.
Simultaneously with the claim against Mechel Mining as a surety, EDB requested Yakutia's Court of Arbitration to recover debts from Yakutugol as a lender, and the Court of Arbitration of Chelyabinsk Region to foreclose property pledged by the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant and the Chelyabinsk Coke and Chemical Products Plant (Mechel Coke) as collateral for the loan.
Mechel is one of the world's leading companies engaged in mining and metallurgy. It comprises over twenty industrial enterprises. At the same time, Mechel is one of Russia's most significant borrowers among metallurgical companies (as at 15 June, its debt was US $6.772 billion).