Mechel Buys 150 New Railcars to Transport Coal

MOSCOW, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mechel PAO (MOEX: MTLR, NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, reports acquiring some 150 railcars in November-December for a total of 467 million rubles as part of the transport fleet upgrade program.

Most gondola railcars were produced by Altaivagon OJSC and RM Rail Ruzhimmash and both bought to own and leased.

Currently Mechel Group’s transport operator Mecheltrans OOO manages approximately 11,000 train vehicle units. In 2019 the company plans to acquire some 1,000 new gondola cars.

“Over the past four years, some 150,000 gondola cars were scrapped in the Russian market due to expired life, which is practically a quarter of the entire fleet volume. The shortage in all-purpose vehicle transport segment is still being felt. As such, in order to improve the situation with transporting Mechel Group’s coal products we intend to dramatically expand our fleet. We are currently in active talks with wagonbuilders and leasing companies,” Mecheltrans Management OOO’s Chief Executive Officer Alexey Lebedev said.

Mechel PAO
Ekaterina Videman
Tel: + 7 495 221 88 88
ekaterina.videman@mechel.com

Mechel is an international mining and steel company. 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 the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.