ISD buys a coal company in Kuzbass so as not to lose coal supplies to Ukraine
Moscow - Kyiv, April 24 (Navigator - Mikhail Stamm) - As Kommersant learned, Russian holders of a controlling stake in the Industrial Union of Donbass can receive $1,8 billion from the state-owned Vnesheconombank to purchase the Kuzbass Sibuglemet. Without Russian coal, Ukrainian metallurgy will not survive. Integration of ISD with Russians is an argument against a possible restriction of coal imports to Ukraine
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The VEB loan should go towards the purchase of Kuzbass Sibuglemet. “The deal is actually closed,” ISD shareholders are already looking for top management for Sibuglemet, says the newspaper’s source in the industry.
Ukrainian metallurgy is dependent on coal imports from Russia. In 2013, Ukrainian ISD enterprises required about 11 million tons of coal. In Ukraine, at least a third of the needs are met by imports; in 2013, 10,9 million tons were imported into the country, 70% of them from Russia. Thanks to Sibuglemet, ISD can cover part of the needs.
One of the newspaper’s sources notes that five years ago Sergei Taruta (now the governor of the Donetsk region) planned to make ISD a “large international holding” with the integration of raw materials assets. But against the backdrop of the confrontation between Kyiv and Moscow, the implementation of this strategy with the control of Russian shareholders and the help of VEB looks like “rather a political project.” Thus, supplies from one’s own assets may become an argument against possible restrictions on the supply of Russian coal to Ukraine.
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