Metinvest requests standstill extension by end-November

Ukraine’s largest steelmaker and iron ore miner Metinvest (METINV) announced on Sept. 16 that it is encouraging bondholders to approve the extension of a standstill to Nov. 30, 2016, currently in force until Sept. 30. The company referred to the finalization of the documentation and implementation process of the debt restructuring in justifying the extension request. The deadline for sending the extension notices was set at Sept. 23.

Roman Topolyuk: We see no reason as to why bondholders wouldn’t approve the restructuring, as the heads of terms that were preliminarily agreed upon with two coordinating committees of creditors are very flexible to any steel and iron ore market twists. We expect the restructuring to be approved by end-November and we estimate the current prices of Metinvest’s Eurobonds at 75-77 cents as an attractive entry point.