OREANDA-NEWS. August 13, 2010. Russia's Alfa-Bank acquired over 50% of Baikal pulpmill debts which is currently under bankruptcy management. The bank insists on sale of mill's equities, as Vedomosti paper reported.

On August 10, creditors of Baikal pulp and paper mill had a meeting. Representatives of creditors holding 52% of mill's debts, voted for bankruptcy management, as Alfa-Bank reported which has over half of 1.3 billion roubles of mill's debts.

Bankruptcy management was initiated at the mill a year ago following a court case of a supplier company Sibstroyles. Alfa-Bank also filed a case on Baikal pulpmill's bankruptcy. Back then, bank's representative said that Alfa-Bank's only goal is to get funds. The bank tried to agree on returning the debt with mill's representatives, a source close to Alfa-Bank reported. After that the bank requested additional pledges or guarantees from the mill's owner. The request was declined, according to Alfa's press release. In order to manage bankruptcy of the mill, the bank started to acquire its debts. A year ago the mill owed 506 million roubles to Alfa, now its debt has grown up to over 650 million roubles.

Creditors' meeting results may be disputed. RIA Novosti agency reported quoting a Baikalsk authority that the meeting did not happen. Baikalsk pulpmill's CEO answered that the meeting both had place and did not, Interfax agency reported. Vedomosti newspaper notes that the phone of mill's bankruptcy manager Sergei Reshetnikov was off yesterday. The representative of mill's majority shareholder (Kontinental-Invest) did not answer the call.