Kemerovo Koks may sell Slovenian Steel Group stock for 1.1 bln rubles
KEMEROVO. June 13 (Interfax) - Coke producer OJSC Koks , based in Kemerovo and the parent company of the Koks group, may sell stock in Slovenian Steel Group (SSG), which is managed by Industrial Metallurgical Holding - also a Koks group enterprise, Koks materials say.
Up for sale are 167,762 SSG shares representing, according to the official Koks group website, 16.867% of its charter capital and 100% of the stock held by Koks. The price tag on the deal could be not less than 1.132 billion rubles.
The deal is characterized as "a deal, the completion of which is of interest and which can be completed in the future in the process of the OJSC carrying out its usual business activity," and was approved by Koks shareholders at their annual meeting June 10.
The counteragent for the deal, according to the materials, could be either OJSC stockholders Yevgeny and Andrei Subitsky or Dilon Cooperatief U.A., which is an SSG majority holder with 55.3569% of the group's stock, according to the website.
Another 25% of the group's stock belongs to the Republic of Slovenia.
Sources at Koks told Interfax the sale of the stock is partly technical in nature, the goal being "the divestment of a non-core asset from the balance of Kemerovo Koks, so as to reduce risks."
The sale of the SSG stock to Koks shareholders could be considered as compensation to the shareholders of the OJSC for unpaid dividends for 2011.
The company owes 1.277 billion rubles for 2011 dividends, according to its report to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for 2012.
Koks Group is a vertically integrated business that produces merchant pig iron and coke and mines and processes coking coal and iron ore. Koks Group is the world's largest exporter of merchant pig iron and Russia's largest manufacturer of merchant coke. Koks Group's four operating divisions are Coal, Coke, Ore & Pig Iron, and Polema. Key production facilities are located in Russia's Kemerovo, Belgorod, and Tula regions. Its website bills Koks as the "world's leading refined electrolytic chrome producer and the largest metal powder and sputtering targets producer in Russia."
According to the official Industrial Metallurgical Holding website, Slovenian Steel Group is composed of six companies, among which the key outfits are Acroni - a flat roll producer - and Metal Ravne - a long products maker. The group's other companies engage in the production of industrial knives and electrodes.