22 Mar 2010 12:36

Belon to pass on 2009 dividends

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - Directors at OJSC Belon, a coal producer owned by Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) , are recommending a dividend waiver for 2009, the company said.

The AGM is scheduled for April 23.

Belon paid 1.332 rubles a share for 2008. The company has deferred dividend payments for 2008 until December 31, 2010. It earlier planned to pay the dividends by August 24, 2008.

MMK in October 2009 consolidated 100% of a company called Onarbay Enterprises Ltd, which owns 82.6% of Belon, which operates in the coal-rich Kuznetsk basin (Kuzbass), Kemerovo region. MMK, which originally owned 43.1% of Belon, bought Andrei Dobrov, Belon's general director, out of the company in a deal estimated at $309 million.

The Belon group's enterprises include the Chertinskaya-Koksovaya, Listvyazhnaya, Novaya-2, and Kostromovskaya deep mines, Novobochatsky strip mine, the Belovskaya and Listvyazhnaya enrichment plants and various service and transport companies.