Vorskla Steel Bulgaria, part of the industrial and financial group Finance and Credit controlled by Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Zhevago, is still interested in purchasing the bankrupt Bulgarian steel giant Kremikovtzi, which was cleared for liquidation in June this year, and intends to take part in the public tender for the mill's sale which is planned for mid-September this year, Sofia News Agency has reported, citing the declarations of Vorskla Steel Bulgaria's CEO Viktor Demyanyuk at a press conference.
Accordingly, the Vorskla Steel Bulgaria CEO insists his company, which has been declared insolvent, has money for the purchase, but first wants to check thoroughly the real condition and state of Kremikovtzi in order to make ensure a return on the investment and to ensure that the mill can really produce goods that can be sold on the world market. Kremikovtzi's closed-bid auction will start at BGN 565,517,510 (about $375.75 million).
Mr. Demyanyuk said that Vorskla Steel already has a recovery plan for Kremikovtzi, which he named "a jalopy with the price of a Mercedes" and has conducted preliminary talks with the companies to which the mill owes money and they were ready to accept deferred payments.
At the beginning of this year Sofia City Court rejected a rescue plan for Kremikovtzi before it could be presented to the mill's creditors, among which are the subsidiaries controlled by Konstantin Zhevago. Thereafter, at the end of May the Bulgarian government declared Kremikovtzi bankrupt.