The Commercial Court of the Dnipropetrovsk Region has approved a preventive debt restructuring plan for the Dnipro Metallurgical Plant, one of Ukraine’s largest steelmaking enterprises and part of the business group of Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi. The decision was issued on January 27 and provides for a two-year deferral of the company’s debt obligations.
Under the approved plan, the company must repay a total of UAH 1.3bn to its creditors no later than February 27, 2028. As a result, the plant has gained additional time to stabilize its financial position and restore operational activity without initiating formal bankruptcy proceedings.
The restructuring plan was preliminarily approved at a creditors’ meeting held on January 16. Four creditor companies participated in the vote: Indorbud LLC, Gir-International LLC, Research and Production Association “Zakhidmineral Invest” LLC, and Research and Production Firm “Topstar” LLC. Their consent enabled the company to proceed with court approval and formally fix the revised debt servicing terms.
The Dnipro Metallurgical Plant is a fully integrated steel producer. Its structure includes blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace shops, coke production facilities, and rolling operations with two long-product mills. At the same time, in early 2025 the plant faced serious production and logistics challenges due to the frontline moving closer to Pokrovsk. As a result, DMZ lost access to its key supplier of grade “K” coking coal — the Pokrovske mining operation.
Following this, the company was forced to switch to imported coking coal, the cost of which proved to be 30–40% higher than domestic supply. Rising production costs amid weakening demand led to a deterioration in economic performance. Subsequently, DMZ fully suspended operations at its coke plant due to a decline in order volumes, while rolling production continues to operate in a limited mode.
The plant’s financial results reflect the severity of the situation. In 2024, DMZ generated revenues of UAH 5.4bn, while posting a net loss exceeding UAH 222m.
The preventive restructuring procedure applied by the Dnipro Metallurgical Plant is a relatively new mechanism in Ukraine and has been in effect since January 1, 2025. Its primary purpose is the early identification of insolvency risks and the prevention of bankruptcies through creditor-approved changes to debt servicing terms. In late December, a similar mechanism was applied to another asset of Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi — the Kharkiv Tractor Plant, which also secured a deferral of its debt obligations.
