Banks agree for Huta Katowice to postpone its debt payments
A group of creditors of the steel mill Huta Katowice (HK) agreed to delay by three weeks the payments of PLN 52mn (USD 13.09mn) in interest on a PLN 400mn (USD 100.5mn) loan granted to the mill in 1998. The largest Polish steel-maker did not meet interest due on March 10 to a consortium of six banks, explaining it with financial troubles it had been facing since the British company Corus had pulled out from the company's privatisation. If the banks had refused the mill's request to delay the payments, HK would probably have to go bankrupt next week. HK's overall debt is currently estimated at about PLN 2.4bn (USD 600.4mn). The mill's trade unions organised pickets outside offices of several of HK's creditors to force the postponement. According to one of the trade union leaders, Janusz Jokis, freezing the plant's finances would mean a loss of tens of thousand jobs in Silesia and nearby regions. kp,bb
Źródło:IntelliNews Daily
