UK issues license to Evraz North America to continue operations until March 31, 2023

MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued a license to Evraz North America to continue operations until March 31, 2023, the OFSI said in a statement.

The UK sanctioned Evraz plc on April 29. "The steel manufacturing and mining company operates in sectors of strategic significance to the Government of Russia," OFSI said at the time. Evraz produces 28% of all Russian railway wheels and 97% of rail-tracks in Russia, it said. OFSI issued a license that permitted transactions with the North American assets until September 2, 2022. That permission has now been extended until March 31, 2023.

Evraz said on August 11 that it was launching the process of soliciting proposals for the acquisition of its North American subsidiary, Evraz North America. "The sale will allow to unlock the stand-alone value of the North America business," Evraz said at the time.

The possible transaction will be subject to regulatory and corporate approvals and applicable sanctions laws, and will require approval from relevant sanctions authorities, including OFSI, Evraz said.

Evraz has steel mills in Portland, Oregon which uses slabs from the group's Nizhny Tagil plant; Pueblo, Colorado; and in Regina, Calgary and Red Deer in Canada. Evraz North America produced 1.88 million tonnes of steel products in 2021, including rolled products, rails, large-diameter pipes and OCTG.

The North American division increased revenue by a third to $2.3 billion in 2021, and posted EBITDA of $321 million, compared to negative $28 million the previous year.

Evraz is a major vertically integrated steel and mining company. Evraz's largest shareholder as of the end of 2021 was Roman Abramovich with 28.64%; company founders Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov controlled 19.32% and 9.65%, respectively. In March, Abramovich was hit first by UK and then by EU sanctions.