Mechel’s owner to decide its fate today

On Friday, representatives of the creditor banks and Mechel itself discussed the fate of the company, two employees of the creditor banks told the Vedomosti. Three other interlocutors, close to the creditors of Mechel, added that by results of the meeting an ultimatum was delivered to the owner of Mechel, Igor Zyuzin ultimatum: he agrees to the conversion of the debt into shares (in this case, his share in Mechel will decrease from 67.42 to 5 %) and departs from the management of Mechel or the company will be bankrupted. Zyuzin must give an answer today, says one of the interlocutors.

However, another source close to one of the participants affirms that there was no ultimatum. According to him, the banks try to persuade the state to take part in the restructuring of Mechel.

A representative of the Deputy Prime Minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, who is in charge of industry, representatives of VTB and Mechel declined to comment. Their colleagues of Sberbank and Gazprombank (the largest creditors of the company) didn’t answer any questions.