MOSCOW, July 16 (RAPSI) – Subsidiaries of the mining and steel corporation Mechel said at a hearing in the Moscow Commercial Court that over 820 million rubles ($14.5 million) were paid off to Sberbank, RAPSI reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

Sberbank is suing Russian mining and steel giant Mechel and four of its subsidiaries to collect the outstanding debt owed under two loans worth a total of 3.8 billion rubles (over $67mln). The Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, which took out the loans, and its guarantor, Mechel Service, said on Thursday that they had repaid part of the debt.

The bank’s representatives said Sberbank received over 80 million rubles ($1.4mln) from Mechel Service, but that they have yet to confirm the transfer of the balance. The court announced a recess until July 20 in this connection.

The bank also filed a motion to increase the claims under the lawsuit by an unspecified amount. 

Sberbank is one of Mechel’s three largest creditors, alongside VTB Bank and Gazprombank. But unlike these two banks, Sberbank is not satisfied with Mechel’s debt restructuring proposals.

Sberbank has said it is negotiating to sell Mechel’s debt to Russian investors.

Since late 2014, Sberbank and its subsidiaries have filed about 40 lawsuits against Mechel and its companies.

Mechel owes $2.3 billion to Gazprombank, $1.8 billion to VTB plus $1.3 billion to Sberbank.

Industrial Development Minister Denis Manturov said in March that Mechel had cut its debt to $6.4 billion from $8.6 billion, according to RIA Novosti. About 40 percent of Mechel’s debt is in rubles.