OJSC Gukovugol was declared an insolvent debtor

Yesterday, the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region declared Gukovugol OJSC (part of the Russian Coal holding) an insolvent debtor and introduced bankruptcy proceedings at the enterprise for a period of 1 year. The total amount of Gukovugol's accounts payable exceeds 1 billion rubles. According to experts, the bankruptcy of the company will not affect coal mining in any way, since all of its main production assets were transferred to separate joint-stock companies last year, and are now operating with “clean” accounts. On the balance sheet of the bankrupt enterprise, only the mine named after the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution remained, which has practically exhausted its reserves and is preparing for liquidation. External surveillance at OJSC Gukovugol was introduced by the regional arbitration court at the request of one of the creditors on September 26, 2005. At the same time, Vladimir Iosipchuk was appointed temporary manager, who yesterday became the bankruptcy manager of the bankrupt enterprise. As Kommersant was told by the East Donbass Information Center CJSC (the former press service of Gukovugol), the total amount of Gukovugol's accounts payable, which the court established by its rulings, exceeds 1 billion rubles. According to the accounting records of the enterprise, the total debt of the company today is about 6 billion rubles.

According to the Information Center, this debt arose several years ago, when the main shareholder of the company was the state (at an auction on July 19, 2002, the federal block of shares (40.85%) was acquired by ZAO Management Company Russian Coal). Last year, during the restructuring of the company, in order to get away from huge debt, the owner transferred his main coal mining assets to separate joint-stock companies - OJSC Almaznaya Management Company, OJSC Donkoks, OJSC Donskoy Anthracite, OJSC Zamchalovsky Anthracite. All of them are today managed by the Gukovugol Management Company CJSC, to which the functions of the sole executive body have been transferred. At the same time, the new management company also manages OJSC Obukhovskaya Mine Administration and LLC Sulinanthracite, which are part of the holding.

As Kommersant was informed by the Eastern Donbass Information Center, one of the founders of the new joint-stock companies was Gukovugol OJSC, contributing its share to the authorized capital with mining equipment necessary for conducting production activities. On the balance sheet of the bankrupt enterprise, only the mine named after the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution remained, which has practically exhausted its reserves and is preparing for liquidation. Therefore, it is unlikely that creditors will be able to expect to recover their debts from its sale.

The Ministry of Industry of the Rostov Region called the owner’s actions to reorganize the company “logical”, since, shackled by numerous debts, it is simply not able to function normally. According to analysts, it would take about 150 years for Gukovugol to pay off its debts at the current level of coal production (5.4 million tons in 2005).

The Kommersant Information Center reported that at the moment, the enterprises managed by Gukovugol Management Company are operating as normal and expect to receive about $19 million from the owner as investments for the modernization of production, the purchase of new equipment and the commissioning of 9 new longwalls .

SEREGY KISIN

Kommersant (Rostov) No. 38 from 03/04/2006, p. 12

The mined mine was left to the creditors