Moscow Times 27 September 2012
Coal and steel conglomerate Mechel announced it will sell its assets in eastern Europe and some Russian holdings and might also sell a 25 percent interest in its mining division, Mechel Mining.
Mechel expects to raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion by selling the assets, excluding Mechel Mining, said an employee of one of Mechel’s creditors.
Under a pessimistic scenario, Mechel might fail to sell its stake in Mechel Mining and dispose of the other assets at a token price, sources said.
The companies put up for sale have a combined debt worth $500 million, the sources said.
Oleg Petropavlovsky, an analyst at BrokerCreditService, estimated the assets, excluding Mechel’s holding in Mechel Mining, at $900 million, while Andrei Shenk, an InvestCafe analyst, said the Mechel Mining stake was worth $4 billion, while the rest of the assets had a total value of $1 billion to $1.5 billion.