The details of the lawsuit were not disclosed while a source told TASS that Sberbank’s lawsuit against Mechel was worth 1.5 billion rubles ($38 million).
Mechel’s debt has reached $8 billion. The Russian government, creditor banks, investment consultants and Mechel representatives are considering options to restructure the metal giant’s debts.
The company’s major creditors are Sberbank ($1.3 billion), Gazprombank ($2.3 billion) and VTB ($1.8 billion). VTB earlier filed a lawsuit to recover 3 billion rubles ($75.9 million) in overdue debt from Mechel.
The Mechel group incorporates coalmining divisions and producers of iron ore, steel, rolled stock, ferroalloys, high value added items, and thermal and electric power. It employs a total staff of 70,000. Its main shareholder Igor Zyuzin owns a 67.42% stake. Earlier, Mechel said that Zyuzin’s companies registered in Cyprus had reduced the amount of the company’s pledged shares to 27.22% from 41.57%.