Metinvest Mining and Metals Group has built 35 steel bunker headquarters for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative and plans to produce another 90 bunkers.
Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko told Pryamyy Kanal that the group has joined the fortification program that is underway in virtually all frontline areas, and is actively building the second and third defense lines with platoon strongholds.
“These points use our shelters as standard, and we have already delivered more than 330 units to our army. And the question arose that we also need to make command posts to ensure continuous control of troops near the contact line. After that, we had a very meaningful discussion with the military, with the command in certain areas. And we have developed a project of the command post – they must meet the following requirements to ensure a comfortable stay of the leadership near the positions and continuous command of the troops,” explained Myronenko.
He clarified that the points must be provided with uninterrupted communication, so they are equipped with Internet, telephone and all other means used by the military. In addition, there should be places where online operators can watch what is happening on the contact line. There are people who monitor video from reconnaissance drones flying along the front line. There are people who monitor how the enemy’s positions and our positions are changing, what kind of fighting is going on at the moment on the contact line. This is all done using large screens and computer equipment, which Metinvest also provides.
The stations are located deep underground for the safety of the military, they are electrified and equipped with stationary heating places, as well as a modern ventilation system that prevents air from stagnating.
The stations are set up mostly at night – they have to be delivered secretly, the place prepared – dig a hole, place them there, make communication lines, fill them up, cover them with several layers of wood. All this requires quite significant security measures, which the company takes together with the military: “They prepare the infrastructure, and we come and install the ‘shelters’ and help with the arrangement.”
“About production: it takes 4-5 weeks to prepare 5-6 shelters, including steel production, assembly of the structure and interior arrangement. The finished structure can be loaded onto a truck, delivered, unloaded and buried. (…) The main purpose of these points is to continuously control troops in a safe environment. If they are properly installed (…), they provide protection against artillery hits of up to 152 caliber,” the top manager explained.
He also emphasized that these control centers are very much needed now, and the company continues to produce them – currently, about five more are in the process of being assembled, which will be distributed to the areas and brigades at the front line. The next stages of production are currently being discussed.
“All the sites where the products are manufactured, including mine trawls, command posts and hideouts, are located outside our facilities. We care about the safety of people working at these sites. In total, about 400-500 employees of Metinvest are constantly involved in the production of defense products. There are opportunities for expansion for almost all types of products, but we are currently limited in the number of people we can employ in this production. (…) We are trying to work closely with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense,” said the COO.
Currently, the main areas of focus are mine clearance (mine trawls) and the provision of shelters and fortifications, as well as their modification. The production of “hideouts” for drone operators is currently being discussed, and another area is being developed, which concerns stabilization medical centers.
“I think in a month or so we will be able to show in more detail what it is and how our medics will be able to use it – the medical stations are currently under development, and we will soon make the first one,” Myronenko summarized.
The Italian Ministry of Business and Production, the Tuscany region and the municipality of Pembino have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group to develop the metallurgical sector in the region.
According to official information from the Italian Ministry, the memorandum was signed with Metinvest Adria SpA, Metinvest B.V., Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche SpA, to ensure conditions for the restart of the steel plant in Piombino.
It is specified that this is “a decisive step for the restart of the Pembino site, which will play an increasingly central role in the national steel industry plan.”
It is also reported that the purpose of the industrial project is to develop, construct, own, operate, and maintain an environmentally sustainable plant for the production of finished steel products derived from the processing of ferrous metals into hot-rolled coils for further processing, which will be built in Pembino on an area of approximately 260 hectares. The project will be financed through external financing and government grants.
The Pembino steel complex is one of the main steel processing centers in Italy and Europe, and the Ministry of Business and the Made in Italy project aim to support the resumption of rail production and simultaneously launch the production of hot-rolled coils in order to restore operations, preserve employment and reduce imports of steel products to Italy from non-EU countries. This has renewed interest in the feasibility of the integrated industrial development project presented by Metinvest Adria S.p.A., Metinvest B.V. and Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.P.A., the ministry said in a statement.
The signatories to the agreement undertake to immediately conduct an agreed feasibility study aimed at determining the conditions for stable and long-term operation of the hub, as well as increasing the industrial and production potential of the territory, giving preference to solutions that are most compatible with the urban environment.
When fully operational, the project will employ about 1,500 direct and indirect workers and will have a significant economic impact on other related industries at the regional and national level, the information says.
The Ministry of Business and Made in Italy will coordinate a working group involving all competent national and local institutions to stimulate the creation of manufacturing plants.
Potential investors: Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection, Tuscany Region, Municipality of Piombino, Port, System Authority, State Property Agency.
The Protocol defines the conditions for concluding a Program Agreement within four months in accordance with Article 252 bis of the Consolidated Environmental Law.
Italian Minister of Business and Production Adolfo Urso said that “the agreement marks a decisive step towards the restart of the Pembino complex, which will play an increasingly central role in the context of the national steel industry plan, together with Taranto, Terni and the steel mills of northern Italy.”
Eugenio Giani, President of the Tuscany region, added that “the memorandum of understanding is the first and necessary signal of the investment proposed by Metinvest and Danieli, as well as a concrete sign of cooperation between the institutions to guarantee the future of steel production in Italy.”
“Tuscany is a land open to foreign investment, and the Pembino region has been favored by metallurgy since the Etruscan times. The Metinvest-Danieli project will have the support of the Tuscany region. (…) We hope that another investment project of JSW Steel Italy can also be realized, given the interdependencies and possible complementarities between the production of flat products (by Metinvest) and long products (by Jsw). We have guaranteed significant investment in the port and infrastructure, an opportunity that the Metinvest-Danieli duo has clearly recognized, and we will work over the next 4 months to reach a binding programmatic agreement with a timeframe for all,” explained Giani.
Pombino Mayor Francesco Ferrari said that “this agreement is a real opportunity for a restart that will return Pombino to the center of the national and international steel industry.”
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest B.V., said: “The agreement with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy marks a significant step towards creating one of the greenest and cleanest plants in Europe.
“This project, with a capacity of about 3 million tons of steel, will play a crucial role in Italy’s transition to green technology by introducing sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial methods. In addition, it will help to increase the utilization of our iron ore mining and processing facilities in Ukraine, leading to their modernization to produce high-quality pellets. Pembino is a cutting-edge project that, once completed, will become a real example of how cooperation between foreign industrial groups and Italian institutions can yield positive results,” Ryzhenkov emphasized.
Danieli Group President Gianpietro Benedetti said that “this agreement is the first important result that will lead to the creation of a plant that will be one of the first fully digital and will have an important positive impact on employment.”
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located primarily in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has started manufacturing and supplying steel bunker headquarters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to protect them from enemy shelling as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative.
According to the company’s press release on Friday, Metinvest has launched the production of steel underground command posts that protect personnel from the effects of shelling and enable the Ukrainian Armed Forces to operate in safe and comfortable conditions on the front line. The first steel headquarters, designed for 30 soldiers, has already been delivered to the Ukrainian Army free of charge and installed in one of the hottest areas of the frontline.
It is explained that the command post helps to save lives of the military, as it can be deployed and retracted on the front line in a short time and, if properly installed, provides protection against artillery fire of any caliber. The steel headquarters consists of five or six (depending on the configuration) separate mobile bunkers, the production of which Metinvest mastered in October 2022. These are interconnected underground shelters that perform various functions, from living quarters and a sanitary area to the command’s working headquarters. This creates a whole underground complex of buildings.
The bunkers, made of corrugated steel, are equipped with all the necessary equipment for a good hotel: sleeping and working areas, showers and boilers, heating, lighting and communication systems, storage for weapons and personal belongings, and electronic equipment. This makes it possible to use the underground headquarters not only as a shelter and a place of rest, but also as a work area that ensures the quality of the command’s work on the front line.
Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko noted that the war is long and combat operations have become a constant companion of every Ukrainian, especially those who defend the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Therefore, the development of improved bunkers and entire underground complexes is a contribution of Metinvest and Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front to improving the lives of soldiers on the front line.
“People are the most important thing. And if we can not only create a safe space from shelling but also make it as comfortable as possible, we do it. I hope that there will be more and more such control points on the front line, and these “underground towns” will become a reliable support for the command of military units. Metinvest is also planning to develop new configurations of underground steel complexes for other needs of the Armed Forces. That is why we will not stop until Ukraine wins,” commented Mr. Mironenko on the handover of the first command post to the Armed Forces.
The new command posts are based on a traditional bunker model – a “kryivka” – which Metinvest has already delivered to various brigades of the Armed Forces since 2022. The design of the standard steel bunker was modified for use as part of a permanent headquarters, with dimensions increased to 6 meters long and 2.3 meters high. Each “hideout” is designed for six people and is equipped with places for rest, storage of personal belongings and an integrated heating system. It takes about 400 hours for Metinvest’s specialists to make one such structure.
“The advantage of our army over the enemy is that we fight with quality and brains. And at the same time, we are able to make informed decisions quickly, because the lives of our soldiers and the success of combat operations are at stake. That’s why we strive to ensure the safety and create comfortable conditions for the military’s work and rest even at ground zero, in the heat of war. Command posts based on modular shelters meet the army’s request and allow us to set up fortified headquarters on the front line, which will fulfill their main task – to control the battle and inflict a crushing defeat on the enemy in any situation,” said Brigadier General Volodymyr Horbatiuk.
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Metinvest has allocated UAH 4.8 billion to support Ukraine and Ukrainians. Of this amount, over UAH 2.5 billion was provided to the soldiers as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative. The company has donated 150,000 bulletproof vests, 25,000 helmets and helmets, 80,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, 31,500 turnstiles, 1,500 drones, 2,000 thermal imagers, 500 vehicles, dozens of mine trawlers for tanks, patrol boats and lance catchers.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, including its associates and joint ventures, paid UAH 14.6 billion in taxes and duties to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine in 2023.
According to the company’s press release on Wednesday, Metinvest remains the backbone of the country’s economy in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The press release specifies that the largest deductions include a unified social tax, which amounted to UAH 3.3 billion, income tax – UAH 3.2 billion, and personal income tax – more than UAH 3 billion.
At the same time, last year Metinvest’s Ukrainian enterprises increased land payments by almost 10% compared to 2022, to UAH 1.2 billion. Environmental tax payments also increased to UAH 608 million.
In addition, subsoil use fees in the amount of UAH 2.2 billion became a significant source of revenues for the state and local budgets of Ukraine in 2023.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, noted that the company had survived another extremely difficult year of war. Despite the serious challenges for the country in general and Ukrainian business in particular, it managed to survive and rebuild its operations in the new environment.
“Despite the problems with asset utilization and the aggressor’s naval blockade, despite the loss of control over assets in Mariupol, the shutdown of Avdiivka Coke and a significant reduction in the number of employees due to the war, Metinvest remains one of the largest taxpayers in Ukraine. And the refusal of tax benefits due to the company under the law allowed us to allocate additional funds to those areas where it is most needed. We continue to support Ukrainians and the army on their path to victory and call on every business to join in and support Ukraine through taxes, donations, assistance to the Armed Forces and civilians during the challenges we are all facing now,” the top manager emphasized.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has handed over three 3D printers to the National Guard of Ukraine as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative.
According to a press release, the important batch of aid was handed over to the NGU servicemen: three 3D printers and 18 kilograms of special plastic for printing components.
“Printing components on such printers is now a very popular technology among the military. It was not easy to find the equipment, it took us about 1.5 months. However, the 3D printers have been purchased and our defenders are already using them in their own workshops,” said Alexander Mironenko, Chief Operating Officer of Metinvest Group, as quoted by the press service.
According to Andriy Belyaev, commander of the 23rd Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, the 3D printers will be used to quickly print and replace some spare parts that can only be produced with such modern equipment.
“First of all, it will be used for automotive equipment. It will also be used to repair reconnaissance drones used to protect critical state facilities within the area of responsibility of the National Guard of Ukraine,” said Belyaev.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, as one of the major shareholders of Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works, has initiated an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to change the company’s type from PJSC to PrJSC, approve the 2015-2022 reports, distribute profits and make decisions on other important issues.
According to the company’s official announcement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, the extraordinary general meeting of Zaporizhstal shareholders to be held remotely is scheduled for January 29, 2024.
The agenda includes 18 items, including the approval of the appointment of KPMG Audit as the auditor for 2020-2022, approval of the company’s annual reports and balance sheets for the period from 2015 to 2022,
The meeting will also consider the distribution of profits or approval of the procedure for covering losses based on the results of operations in 2015-2022. At the same time, it is proposed to leave the net profit of UAH 1 billion 804 million 967,874 thousand received by the company based on the results of 2015, profit for 2016 in the amount of UAH 4 billion 690 million 82,987 thousand, profit for 2017 in the amount of UAH 3 billion 348 million 548,937 thousand, profit for 2018 in the amount of UAH 4 billion 719 million 208,550 thousand and profit for 2021 in the amount of UAH 16 billion 809 million 158,412 thousand undistributed.
The loss of UAH 4 billion 332 million 801,906 thousand in 2019, as well as the loss for 2020 in the amount of UAH 3 billion 678 million 76,402 thousand and the loss for 2022 in the amount of UAH 4 billion 864 million 684,828 thousand shall be covered by deferred income.
The shareholders will also approve the approval of major transactions, approve Premium Standard Appraisal LLC as a valuation entity to value the company’s property and the market value of the company’s shares, and approve the CEO’s order to approve the market value of 1 ordinary registered share of the company determined by appraisers as of the last business day preceding the day of posting the notice of the general meeting of shareholders at which the decision was made that became the basis for the mandatory share buyback.
The meeting also intends to approve a two-tier management structure, eliminating the audit committee as a controlling body. The shareholders will renew the composition of the supervisory board, which is proposed to elect Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Yulia Dankova, Svitlana Romanova and Oleksandr Myronenko as representatives of the shareholder Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands), and Ruslan Bogdanov and Pavlo Osiyuk as independent directors.
The shareholders also plan to change the company’s type from PJSC to PrJSC, adopt a new version of the charter, and confirm the powers of CEO Roman Slobodianiuk in changing the company’s type.
After registration of the amendments to the revised charter with the change of the company’s type, the powers of the supervisory board members will be terminated and it is proposed to introduce Ryzhenkov, Dankova, Romanova as representatives of the shareholder Metinvest B.V. and Bogdanov and Osiyuk as independent directors.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are widely known and in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
According to the NDU data for the third quarter of 2023, Kyiv Securities Group LLC owns 24.5003% of Zaporizhstal shares, Midland Capital Management LLC (both Kyiv, registered at the same address) owns 11.2224%, Global Steel Investments Limited (UK) owns 12.3466%, and Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owns 47.0032%.
Earlier it was reported that Metinvest Group’s effective shareholding in Zaporizhstal remains at 49.9%.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
