Russia's largest state-owned bank Sberbank has announced that for the purpose of settlement of debts of Russia's biggest ferrous scrap dealer MAIR Industrial Group, its subsidiary SBK Metal has acquired a 75 percent share in MAIR's Rusvtormet Center, which owns a Rostov region-based billet producer and Stavropol region-based rebar producing plant, i.e., respectively Sulinsky Metallurgical Plant (STAKS) and Arzil.
The amount of the debt has not been disclosed.
According to the reports, in 2008 MAIR secured $2.25 billion in loans from Sberbank for the upgrade of STAKS, which included the increase of its steelmaking capacities from one million mt per year to two million mt. However, due to the crisis the company did not implement its plans and was not able to repay its loans.
Arzil and STAKS have been idled from June and May last year respectively, and now the new owner is developing a business plan for them and intends during the summer to restart operations, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti has stated, citing Arzil's manager. Both plants have been undergoing bankruptcy procedure for nearly a year.