According to the Bulgarian media sources, Ukraine's richest businessman Rinat Akhmetov may be chosen by the Bulgarian government to run the country's largest steel mill Kremikovtzi during the mill's ongoing insolvency procedure.
As per reports, Akhmetov has been indicated as the "mysterious" investor interested in Kremikovtzi, following negotiations held on Saturday between Bulgaria's Energy and Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov and representatives of the Kremikovtzi trade unions with Miroslav Borisov, CEO of the Burgas-based ProMet steel factory, which is owned by Rinat Akhmetov.
Towards the end of last week the troubled mill declared an emergency situation caused by the sudden coal shortage and faced the shutdown of two of its blast furnaces.
Tzvetan Bankov, the syndic of Kremikovtzi, has said that the 1,500 mt shipment of coal that the factory is expecting urgently is still on its way from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas.
According to Bulgaria's Minister of Energy and Economy Petar Dimitrov, there is also a possibility that Kremikovtzi might be nationalized as the total debts of the mill have so far reached BGN 2.2 billion (approx. $1.4 billion); however the debt situation has nothing to do with the current global financial crisis but rather with its mismanagement over several years.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, last week Minister Dimitrov announced the Bulgarian government's invitation to ArcelorMittal to become the operator of the Kremikovtzi, following Konstantin Zhevago-owned Vorskla Steel Bulgaria's announcement of the suspension of its tolling agreement with Kremikovtzi citing a number of obstacles from the parties involved.