Sibur Russian Tyres walks out of Amtel debt deal

ERJ staff report (RD)

Moscow - Sibur Russian Tyres has withdrawn from talks with creditors of Amtel Vredestein to purchase the company's debt, according to a spokesman for SRT. The spokesman said one of Amtel-Vredestein's creditors -- Sberbank -- had not even responded to SRT's enquiry. Sberbank holds 20 percent of Amtel-Vredestein's debt, so SRT has withdrawn from that  approach.

The spokesman said SRT is still interested to buy all of Amtel-Vredestein's assets, if  a deal can be struck.

In January, Igor Karavaev of Sibur Russian Tyres said, "we plan to buy the debts of Amtel-Vredestein's Russian arm in exchange for Sibur Holding's interest-bearing bonds worth up to RUB 2.7bn (approx. USD 81.8m) and SIBUR-Russian Tyres's convertible zero-coupon bonds worth up to RUB 12.692bn (approx. USD 385m). Consequently, the total price of the bonds may reach up to RUB 15.4bn (approx. USD 467m)."