MOSCOW (March 13, 2009)—Sibur Russian Tyres has withdrawn from talks with creditors of Amtel Vredestein N.V. to purchase the company´s debt, according to a spokesman for Sibur.
The spokesman said one of Amtel-Vredestein´s creditors—Sberbank— had not even responded to Sibur´s inquiry. Sberbank holds 20 percent of Amtel-Vredestein´s debt, so Sibur has withdrawn from that approach.
The spokesman said Sibur is still interested in buying all of Amtel-Vredestein´s assets if a deal can be struck without bureaucracy and politics getting in the way.
In January, Igor Karavaev of Sibur Russian Tyres said it planned on buying the debts of Amtel-Vredestein´s Russian arm in exchange for Sibur Holding´s interest-bearing bonds worth up to $81.8 million and Sibur Russian Tyres´s convertible zero-coupon bonds worth up to $385 million.