OREANDA-NEWS. Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces reaching agreement on covenant holidays on bilateral credit lines from Sberbank of Russia amounting to 44.9 billion rubles (approximately 1.36 billion US dollars*) until the end of 2014.

“We are grateful for Sberbank's support of Mechel's revised development strategy, which includes a gradual decrease of our debt burden as one of its basic elements. The signed agreement is yet another proof of our mutually beneficial and efficient partnership. Obtaining Sberbank's agreement to covenant holidays will enable the company to continue implementing our new development strategy, which was approved last year, and overcome the period of global market volatility,” Mechel OAO's Chief Financial Officer Stanislav Ploschenko stated.