Mriya dismisses CFO as part of changed debt settlement strategy

Farming company Mriya (MRIYA, MAYA GF) announced on Dec. 17 that its CFO, Alexander Chernyavskiy, left the company two days earlier. His resignation was a part of changed strategy to settle the group’s financial obligations that was declared at its Dec. 16 meeting with creditors, according to Mriya. At the meeting, the company proposed that its creditors “take under full control the operational management of the Group and full responsibility of the restructuring process.” That decision should be agreed upon by all the parties by the end of January 2015, according to the company.

In a separate interview published by Forbes-Ukraina on Dec. 17, the company’s CEO stated that shareholders and management are ready to give up control of the holding if creditors work out a consolidated position on restoring its solvency. Meanwhile, the CEO admitted that he didn’t know the exact amount of group’s total indebtedness, just indicating it is higher than USD 1.3 bln, as all the lenders have yet to submit their debt claims.

Roman Topolyuk: Such news makes Mriya’s position clearer as it has taken certain steps towards meeting its lenders’ concerns. The company isn’t insisting on its previously offered restructuring, which included a large haircut and maturity extension as the only workable option, but it is ready to turn its massive debt into equity.

It’s early to evaluate the prospects of such a move since potential hurdles are the real quality of assets, a possible lack of unity among creditors or some hidden, unannounced debt. On the one hand, creditors don’t have many other options to choose from. On the other hand, it seems like Mriya’s management/owners have played some role in preventing creditors from finding common ground and gaining full control over the company.