ING Bank Slaski, the only private debtholder of Polish troubled coking coal producer JSW, is pressing the miner to buy back some of its bonds in the near term, Puls Biznesu daily reported on Friday quoting sources close to the bank. JSW, which is grappling with record low coal prices and rising costs, asked bondholders last month to abstain from demanding redemption of bonds until the end of October.
Last year, JSW issued bonds worth 700 million zlotys ($186.6 million) and $164 million, which it spent on the purchase of the Knurow-Szczyglowice coal mine from miner Kompania Weglowa. JSW's bond holders, which apart from the ING unit include Poland's state-run lender PKO BP, BGK and PZU, had the right to demand a redemption of their bonds if JSW failed to issue bonds on foreign markets by July 30.
JSW said it had failed to issue the eurobonds due to unfavourable market conditions. ING Bank Slaski, which holds JSW bonds worth 200 million zlotys, expects the miner to buy back half of the debt in the near term, the Puls Biznesu daily reported. JSW has cut costs to preserve liquidity, but the daily said that the company's cash has shrunk and it cannot afford to pay back debt early. "The management does not comment due to the ongoing negotiation process with the banks," Puls Biznesu quoted a JSW spokeswoman as saying. A ING Slaski spokesman declined to comment.
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