MECHEL ANNOUNCES DISPOSAL OF TOPLOFIKATSIA ROUSSE EAD

Moscow, Russia — December 18, 2012 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces the disposal of 100% of the
shares of Toplofikatsia Rousse EAD (TPP Rousse, Bulgaria).
Mechel OAO announces that it has signed an agreement for the disposal of 100% of
Toplofikatsia Rousse EAD to Toplofikatsia Pleven, a privately-held Bulgarian
power company. The disposal is valued at approximately 27.7 million euro based
on the asset’s equity value. Toplofikatsia Pleven will assume all of TPP
Rousse’s investment obligations. Additionally, the buyer will assume the
accounts payable to Mechel Carbon for historical coal deliveries in amount of
18.8 million US dollars. One of the deal’s requirements is obtaining the
appropriate permission from Bulgaria’s Commission on Protection of Competition.
VTB Capital and UniCredit Bank acted as financial advisors and CMS as legal
advisor to Mechel OAO in this transaction.
The disposal of TPP Rousse is fully aligned with Mechel OAO’s revised strategy
aimed at development of its core businesses — consolidating the group’s leading
position as a metallurgical coal producer, strengthening its positions in steel
products for construction and increasing its share on the markets for high
value-added steel products. The transaction was made in line with the program
for restructuring the group’s assets as earlier approved by Mechel OAO’s Board
of Directors.
In 2011 TPP Rousse generated 388 GWh of electricity and 236 Gcal of heat power,
which resulted in 44.1 million euro in revenues and 4.2 million euro in EBITDA.
As of 31 July 2012 TPP Rousse had some 300 employees.
Commenting on the event, Stanislav Ploschenko, Mechel OAO’s Chief Financial
Officer, noted: “The transaction is a first step in implementing Mechel OAO’s
renewed strategy focusing on its core business segments. All proceeds from the
transaction will be used towards the repayment of the Group’s debt. On the
whole, as a result of this transaction, Mechel’s leverage will be reduced by
approximately 55.2 million US dollars*."
* Based upon the Russian Central Bank exchange rate of 1.3153 $/EUR as of
December 18, 2012.
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Mechel OAO
Pavel Taran
Tel: +7 495 221-88-88
pavel.taran@mechel.com
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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, steel, rolled products,
hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and
internationally.
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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.