Metinvest Group has officially announced it has bought up to 24.99% stake in Donetsksteel’s coking coal producers for about $190 million. “The Group has secured additional long-term supply of high-grade coking coal by investing in production cooperation and acquiring up to 24.99% of some coking coal assets in Ukraine,” it said in a statement on the Irish Stock Exchange on August 16. “The assets include several extraction, enrichment and sale entities, the most significant of which is Pokrovske Colliery and Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Plant, which together form the largest coking coal extraction and production business in Ukraine [until recently, they were part of the industrial and financial group Donetskstal, also known as Donetsksteel],” the statement said.
They are located on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, close to Metinvest enterprises. The assets are registered in accordance with Ukrainian law and none is located in the non-controlled territories of Ukraine.
According to Metinvest, the acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategic priority of improving its self-sufficiency in coking coal to strengthen its vertical integration.
As of December 31, 2017, the long-life proven and probable coal reserves amounted to 81 million tonnes, as calculated according to JORC methodology as at January 1, 2013, and adjusted for production in 2013-17. In 2017, raw coal extraction was 4.3 million tonnes, while coking coal concentrate production was 2.6 million tonnes.
Metinvest says sale products mostly consist of high-quality K-grade coal (hard coking coal, most of whose quality characteristics are in line with the Platts requirements for the Premium Low Vol HCC benchmark), which is used in coke production.
The Metinvest Group is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Dnipropetrovsk region. Its major stockholders are SCM with 71.24% and Smart-Holding with 23.76%, which jointly manage the group.
Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, in 2017 increased capital investments by 45% compared to the previous year, to $542 million.
According to the audited consolidated financial results for 2017, expenditures on support projects accounted for 83% of total investments (75% in 2016), on strategic projects some 17% (25%).
At the same time, the metallurgical segment accounted for 51% of capital investments (52% in 2016), mining for 48% (46%).
Corporate expenses were $9 million for the reporting period ($4 million for 2016).
The total amount of net cash used in financing activities in 2017 was $110 million, which is 5% more than a year ago.
Net cash used in investing activities increased by 36% over the period compared to 2016, to $449 million. The total cash flow for the acquisition of fixed assets and intangible assets was $465 million, which is 30% more than in 2016. There were no proceeds from the sale of subsidiaries and affiliated companies, while in January 2016 the company received $6 million from the sale of its stake in Black Iron (Cyprus) Limited. Proceeds from the sale of fixed assets and intangible assets stood at $1 million compared with $3 million in 2016. The total amount of interest received was $15 million compared to $18 million in 2016.