MOSCOW, August 3. / TASS / Russia's Sberbank representative said in court that the bank is ready to reject part of its claim against mining and steel company Mechel's subsidiaries in the amount of $393,000 due to the made payment, TASS correspondent reported from the halls of Moscow's Arbitration Court on Monday.
According to the representative, the paid amount of $393,000 is the interest on the loan given to the company in the amount of $2.9 million. The claim was against five Mechel subsidiaries - the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, Mechel-Trans, Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant, Mechel-Service and Mechel Mining.
Mechel has not been able to reach an agreement with Sberbank. Its CEO German Gref expressed disappointment that Mechel has not come up with a suitable offer for the bank. "Mechel keeps hoping, and we're losing hope, that they start doing something. As of now, unfortunately, they have not moved on anything. So rather than just sit there and hope, it would be better if they did something," Gref said. Gref recalled that as of July 1, 2015, the amount of overdue Mechel debt of subsidiaries to Sberbank is about 12 billion rubles ($215.7 mln) and the bank will take any action necessary to protect its interests, including going to court.
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Earlier, Sberbank announced its intention to initiate bankruptcy procedures against three Mechel subsidiaries - Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, the holding company and the Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant. And while in turn, Mechel issued a statement that it hopes to resolve its conflict with Sberbank out of court, on July 20th, Sberbank won the court case against Mechel and its subsidiary companies in the amount of 6.76 bln rubles ($118.5). According to the court decision, the amount in question shall be recovered from Mechel-Trance, Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant, CMP and Mechel-Service.
Initially, the amount stated in the Sberbank court case amounted to 3.8 billion rubles ($66.6 mln) but the court increased the amount during the course of the trial to 6.76 bln rubles ($118.5 mln).
Sberbank has also confirmed that earlier Mechel repaid 800 million rubles ($14 mln) in the lawsuit. Sberbank press service informed TASS that since the end of March, CMP did not fulfill its obligations to pay accrued interest and principal debt to Sberbank, on two loan agreements for a total amount of 3.8 billion rubles ($ 66.6 mln), which is the amount that Sberbank went to court over.
In early May, CMP has interest and fees in the amount of 786 million rubles ($14 mln) and the credit organization received payment from Mechel-Service guarantor, in the amount of 87.3 million rubles ($1.5 mln).