Evraz announced the blocking of payments on Eurobonds

The company said that paid coupons on bonds are blocked by a correspondent bank,and linked it to the UK sanctions against Roman Abramovich

Bond coupons paid by Evraz were blocked by Societe Generale New York's correspondent bank, according to the steel company's website.

Evraz made interest payments on a $704.099 million bond maturing in 2023 on March 16, two business days before the March 21 deadline. However, according to the London branch of the Bank of New York Mellon (the main paying agent), the coupon for more than $18.922 million "has not been redeemed to date and remains blocked for compliance reasons at Societe Generale New York's correspondent bank." In this regard, Evraz has notified "a potential default event as defined in the bonds' trust deed".

The company attributes this to the inclusion of one of the shareholders, Roman Abramovich, who owns 28.64% of the shares, in the British sanctions list. They stressed that they have sufficient liquidity to make coupon payments.

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On March 10, Evraz stated that the restrictions imposed by the UK could not be applied to the company. They confirmed that Abramovich is one of the main shareholders and is not considered “as a person exercising effective control over the company”, in particular due to the fact that he does not own (directly or indirectly) more than 50% of the shares or voting rights and does not have the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the board of directors. The company also emphasized that they supply long products exclusively for infrastructure projects and the construction sector.