Mechel Reaches Agreement on Covenant Holidays With Sberbank on Bilateral Credit Lines Amounting to $1.36B

Mechel OAO

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. * Based on the Russian Central Bank exchange rate of 32.95 RUR/$ as of December 9, 2013. Mechel is an international mining and steel company which employs over 80,000 people. Its products are marketed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, heat and electric power. All of its enterprises work in a single production chain, from raw materials to high value-added products. Some of