OREANDA-NEWS. June 10, 2011. Mechel (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and steel companies, announces that Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting was held, reported the press-centre of Mechel.   

The following key resolutions were adopted by shareholders at the meeting:

To approve the Company’s Annual Report for 2010.

To approve the Company’s Annual Financial Statements inclusive of the Income Statement (Profit and Loss Accounts) for 2010.

To pay dividends of 8.73 rubles per one ordinary share (about USD 0.32) and a dividend of 26.21 rubles per one preferred share (approximately USD 0.95).

To allocate 2010 profit at a sum of 42,928,913,531.54** rubles (USD 1,550,636,760.79) as follows: - dividend payment of placed Company’s ordinary shares – 3,634,043,603.85 rubles (about USD 131,265,413.89)

- dividend payment of placed Company’s privileged shares- 3,636,818,742.15 rubles (about USD 131,365,654.75)

- the 35,658,051,185.54-ruble (USD 1,288,005,692.15) profit balance should remain not distributed.

To elect the following people to Mechel’s Board of Directors:

1. Igor Zyuzin;
2. Yevgeny Mikhel;
3. Valentin Proskurnya;
4. Roger Ian Gale;
5. Arthur David Johnson;
6. Vladimir Gusev;
7. Alexander Yevtushenko;
8. Igor Kozhukhovsky;
9. Seraphim Kolpakov.

To elect the following people to Mechel OAO’s audit committee:
1. Yelena Pavlovskaya-Mokhnatkina;
2. Natalya Mikhailova;
3. Lyudmila Radishevskaya.

To appoint Energy Consulting/Audit ZAO as the auditor of Mechel OAO (Moscow).

To approve the revised Charter of the Company.

To approve the revised Bylaw on the Collective Executive Body (the Management Board) of the Company.

To approve the revised Bylaw on the Board of Directors of the Company.

To approve the revised Bylaw on the Sole Executive Body (the general director) of the Company.

The Company’s shareholders also approved several related-party transactions.

The first transaction is related to the possibility of entering by Mechel into the suretyship agreements under which Mechel becomes bound towards the banks for the fulfillment of the companies of the same group of persons to which Mechel belongs of their obligations under the credit facilities. The maximum amount of the suretyship in respect of each borrower shall not exceed 90,000,000,000 rubles (USD 3,250,893,092.57) or the equivalent of this amount in the foreign currency calculated on the basis of the applicable exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation at the date of the transaction.

The second transaction is related to the execution by Mechel of the suretyship agreement under which the latter becomes bound towards TransCreditBank for the fulfillment of Southern Kuzbass Coal Company obligations under the credit facility. In accordance with the transaction provisions the maximum amount of the facility shall not exceed 6,189,000,000 rubles (USD 223,553,081.67), the maturity period of the facility is five years.

The third transaction is related to the entering by Mechel into the guarantee agreement under which Mechel acts as a guarantor, Mechel-Steel or Mechel  another affiliate acts as a borrower and Psarko Investments Limited (Cyprus) acts as a creditor. The subject matter of the guarantee agreement: providing guarantee in favor of the creditor, under which Mechel is bound towards the creditor for the fulfillment by the borrower of its obligations under the sale-purchase agreement of 1,999 ordinary class-A shares worth 1 euro each of Daveze Limited (Cyprus). The secured obligations include the obligations of the borrower arising from the sale purchase agreement including full and timely payment for the company’s shares for the amount not exceeding USD 537,000,000, equaling to 14,866,683,900 rubles, as well as payment of the penalties and agreed and liquidated damages payable for non-fulfillment or non-timely fulfillment by the borrower of its obligations.