Mirland CEO: We need time on Russia

Mirland CEO Roman Rozental addressed a bondholders meeting today on the company's Russian business.

"We should all like to be meeting in different circumstances, but I hope that we shall emerge with an understanding that we are in a storm brought about by force majeure, one that could be something passing and not an event that changes the face of the company," Mirland Development Corporation plc (AIM:MLD; TASE: MRLD.B1) CEO Roman Rozental said today at a company bondholders meeting.

For the first time since the economic crisis broke out in Russia, Mirland, which holds the Russian real estate business of Jerusalem Economy Ltd. (TASE:ECJM) (JEC), convened a meeting of the holders of its A-F series bonds, at which the bondholders were given an update on the state of the company. The meeting was convened at the behest of the medium- and long-term bondholders, who feared that a NIS 45 million payment to holders of the A and B series bonds due on December 31 this year would harm Mirland's future repayment capability.

Rozental told the meeting about Mirland's activity in Russia since 2004, and reviewed the Russian economy and the causes of the current deterioration there. He called on the bondholders to act in cooperation with him. "We need time. We continue to believe that the company has a substantial positive net asset value, but a period of time is needed in order to understand what is happening in Russia and its effect on the company's business. We therefore propose that you should set up a joint representative body for all the bond series, with which the company will put together a plan for dealing with the crisis and for a settlement should that become necessary," Rozental said.

The Mirland CEO added that the cash for the payments due in December would for the time being be held in a special account and would not be used for any other purpose. No payments will be made for any series or to creditors under guarantees except with the agreement of the joint representative. At the end of September, Mirland had $55 million (NIS 215 million) cash, but since then it has made a payment to the D series bondholders and now has $40 million, of which $16 million are deposited in Russian banks.

JEC is controlled by Eliezer Fishman, who is also the controlling shareholder in "Globes".

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018