Evraz will not be able to pay off dollar-denominated Eurobonds on time owing to sanctions

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - Evraz will not be able partially or fully to repay the issue of dollar-denominated Eurobonds on time despite the group having sufficient liquidity, the company said in a statement.

The Eurobonds mature on March 20, 2023, the initial issue volume was $750 million, and the coupon rate is 5.375%.

The company is currently prohibited from rendering payments on Eurobonds 2023 without an appropriate license from the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), according to the statement.

Evraz has been under British sanctions since the end of April last year. The company had two issues of Eurobonds in circulation maturing respectively in 2023 and 2024. The company in September reported that it would not be able to pay coupons on these two issues on time. Evraz noted that it had sent a request back in July for a license from the British regulators in order to permit payments on the Eurobonds, though it has never received one. Meantime, the company emphasized that even if the relevant permission had been issued, there are a large number of obstacles to paying interest on Eurobonds, including technical and regulatory ones.