Heavy debts to Samaraenergo prompt action (296 words)

Published: 6/27/2001

Samaraenergo has yet again cut power to Aviakor, stopping supplies on 15th June in response to the non-payment of debts. The plant, according to its General Director, Vladimir Belogub, owes $740,000 to Samaraenergo, accumulated during the last year, when Aviakor assumed the debts of other unnamed companies.Power has been subsequently restored by mutual agreement. Given the plant's low level of business, the power cuts further jeopardise what little it has, making it difficult to meet its schedule for the delivery of two Tu-154Ms to state airline, GTK Rossiya. One aircraft is completed, but the second, due to be completed by the end of June, may now be delayed. According to newspaper, Vremya Novostei, those involved in the dispute refuse to admit that Aviakor's situation is the result of relations between Anatoly Chubais and Oleg Deripaska, Heads of UES and Siberian Aluminium (SibAl), Aviakor's controlling shareholder, and is one in a long line of “disputes” involving SiBAL subsidiaries and various utility companies. A simpler explanation, however, may be that government has recently made it plain that utility companies should cut off defaulters in an effort to improve the sector's finances. Inevitably, the metals sector, as the one of the largest users, had some of the heaviest debtors. According to Samaraenergo, it has received several undertakings to pay but no payments have actually materialized, except the offer of an 18-month commercial paper that Samaraenergo rejected on the grounds that UES - its major shareholder - will not accept this as a means of payment. For Aviakor, the cuts are yet more evidence that SiBal is reluctant to support the plant and, given its current liquidity crunch, any new orders may be difficult if not impossible to fulfill, unless accompanied by large, upfront payments.

Article ID: 2614