“Thanks to the expert financial policies developed by Dmitry Lutsenko, the corporation has successfully entered the debt market and also transitioned to GAAP international financial accounting standards,” the company said in a statement on its web site.
Lutsenko was responsible for restructuring the group’s debt, which reached $742.6 million this summer. The source close to the company said Lutsenko’s departure was linked to the fact that he was not able to reach agreement with Mirax’s biggest creditor, Credit Suisse.
Alfa Bank bought Mirax’s $241.6 million debt to Credit Suisse at a 75 percent discount and then went to court to freeze the companies that own the Mirax Plaza business center and the Federation tower.
In September, Mirax restructured its debt to Alfa for 18 months, agreeing to repay half the sum in cash and the remainder as space in the Federation Tower.
Lutsenko, who led Mirax’s talks with bondholders, said the company had debt of about $500 million at the start of December.
Last week, Mirax Group did not pay the first coupons on its third and fourth bond issues, which it offered in September when restructuring its defaulted second issue for 3 billion rubles ($98 million). In August, the company offered to pay debt holders the coupon and 10 percent of principle, exchanging the remaining debt for a new issue. Virtually all of Mirax’s investors accepted the offer, a spokesperson said.
Mirax Group has decided not to make payments on its bonds until the presentation of a restructuring plan for all of its debt, which will take place before the end of the year, a spokesperson said.
He said Mikhail Prokhorov’s MFK Bank, which became a financial consultant to Mirax in September, was finishing the program. After the details of the restructuring are announced, Mirax will start paying its creditors and investors, the spokesperson said, declining to comment on the details of the restructuring.
Lutsenko said he was leaving Mirax Group of his own accord and that he was planning to change his line of work. As of Monday, his responsibilities will go to Maxim Temnikov, another board member.
Sergei Polonsky had four partners in Mirax Group: Lutsenko, Temnikov, Alexei Adikayev and Maxim Privezentsev. Three years ago, Polonsky created an options program under which executives were supposed to split evenly a 12 percent stake in Mirax Group.
The source close to the company said that only Privezentsev did not receive shares under the option. In February, Adikayev left the company, followed by Privezentsev in September. Other shareholders purchased Adikayev’s stake, the company said earlier this year.
Lutsenko said he owns shares but declined to discuss his plans for them.
In addition to the shares, members of the board also own stakes in the group’s development projects. Lutsenko has undisclosed minority stakes in the Federation Tower and Mirax Plaza. Neither he nor a Mirax spokesperson would comment on what would happen with the projects.
Polonsky declined comment, as did a spokesperson for Alfa Bank.
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