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Oleg Korzhov to take over at Mechel following Mikhel resignation

Mechel has replaced its chief executive as the heavily leveraged Russian steel and coking coal producer looks to tackle its net debt of more than $9bn.
Oleg Korzhov, the company’s senior vice-president for economics and management, will take over from Evgeny Mikhel, who has been chief executive since 2010. Mr Korzhov will start his new role on Wednesday.

On Monday, Mechel revealed it would discuss the early resignation of Mr Mikhel at a board meeting that day.
Lossmaking Mechel is one of several Russian miners struggling to pay down billions of dollars in pre-crisis debt after embarking on global buying sprees in the heady days of the commodities boom.
Last week, Mechel, which is owned by Russian billionaire Igor Zyuzin, reported a net loss of $2.2bn in the first nine months of 2013 because of a number of one-off write downs. This was up from a net loss of $550m in the same period last year.
In recent months the company has focused on securing covenant holidays until the end of 2014 from its creditors, alleviating pressure on the coal miner. This has included arrangements with Sberbank and a deal with a syndicate of foreign banks, including ING, Société Générale, UniCredit, Commerzbank, Raiffeisen and Russia’s VTB.
Mechel has been struggling with the effects of depressed global prices for coal, which accounted for around 30 per cent of its revenues but around four-fifths of earnings last year. It is among the world’s six largest exporters of coking coal, a key ingredient in steelmaking.
While Mechel is among the most indebted Russian miners, it is not alone. Rusal, for instance, is contending with about $10bn in net debt, according to information released by the company in late September.
Mr Mikhel, who took over as chief executive from main shareholder Mr Zyuzin in July 2010, has focused on selling the company’s non-core assets. It plans to sell further assets next year that are either lossmaking or not part of its core mining business.
Mr Zyuzin, Mechel’s chairman, said: “Oleg Korzhov is an expert in his field?.?.?.?We are sure that he has the ability to bring Mechel to a new level of development and successfully resolve the tasks that the company faces.”