Czech Republic

The Czech government approved a 700 million crown ($29 million) loan to help keep afloat hard coal miner OKD, an insolvent unit of New World Resources , the prime minister and industry minister said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. OKD, a major employer in the Czech Republic's industrial northeast, was declared insolvent by a court in May after its owners failed to secure government aid to help it through a sharp fall in global coal prices.

The Czech corruption police investigate the financial management of the OKD black-coal mining company, which was declared insolvent in May and has debts worth billions of crowns, the Czech News Agency has found in the insolvency register. Detectives from the Squad for Uncovering Organised Crime (UOOZ) are looking into suspicious transactions of OKD and the owner of the NWR Holdings B.V., which owns OKD. The police have asked for documentation on OKD financial management, according to OKD insolvency administrator Leo Louda.

Czech coal miner OKD, the insolvent unit of New World Resources (NWR), urgently needs a state loan of up to 1 billion crowns ($42.1 million) to keep operating, Industry Minister Jan Mladek said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Mladek, in a statement, said that a state-backed loan was the only option for OKD to secure financing to keep operating this month. OKD, a major employer in the Czech Republic's industrial northeast, was declared insolvent by a court in May after its owners failed to secure government aid to help it through a sharp fall in global coal prices.

Czech miners' unions have teamed up with lignite mine owner Pavel Tykac and another investor to make on offer for New World Resources' insolvent mining subsidiary OKD, the unions said on Monday. The unions did not give any details of their offer to NWR, which is mainly owned by a trio of international investment funds. OKD, NWR's main business, filed for insolvency this month after failing to secure government aid. OKD should be able to continue its operations if the offer is accepted, the unions said.

New World Resources Plc, which entered the Prague Stock Exchange eight years ago as the largest Czech equity offering ever, may become the country’s biggest corporate failure in at least a decade, Bloomberg News reported. The mining company, controlled by a group of investors including Ashmore Investment Management Ltd., said on Wednesday it will probably be “wound up or broken up in an orderly manner” as a result of an insolvency filing by its key asset, OKD AS.

The main business of Czech coal miner New World Resources (NWR) filed for insolvency on Tuesday after failing to secure government aid, but could still agree a reorganisation plan to stay afloat, Reuters reported. The business, OKD, which owns the country's only hard coal mines, is the latest miner worldwide to seek creditor protection amid slumping prices. Loss-making OKD said in its insolvency filing that it owed 17 billion crowns (629.01 million euros) and held assets worth less than 7 billion crowns.

New World Resources' (NWR) loss-making coal mining division OKD will have to file for insolvency unless the government can agree a deal with its owners to take the company over at a lower price, Czech Industry Minister Jan Mladek said on Monday. NWR has already said the coal mining group will run out of money by the middle of May and will need to file for insolvency before that unless the government and creditors agree a deal soon. The coal miner, which employs around 13,000 people, has been hit by low prices and weak demand.

Creditors of troubled Czech hard coal miner New World Resources pushed on Sunday for a quick agreement with the government on state aid for its main operating subsidiary OKD to avoid its bankruptcy, saying a deal was needed next week. The firm's main creditors and shareholders acting under the name Ad Hoc Group (AHG) and holding 60 percent of equity and two thirds of NWR debt said on Sunday the firm, which has suffered from a fall in global coal prices, needed to secure financing from next month on.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek offered last week that current owners sell 100 percent stake in the operating unit OKD of troubled miner New World Resources as well as most of the group's debt but majority owners and creditors rejected to name a price for the assets, Mladek said on Twitter, Reuters reported. The miner and its main creditors and owners, acting together under the name of Ad Hoc Group (AHG), have been seeking some form of government aid for NWR to avoid insolvency of the firm employing 13,000 people.

CSA Czech Airlines said that its key shareholder Korean Air Lines Ltd. has agreed to inject fresh capital into the country’s flagship carrier as it seeks to overcome its current financial struggles, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. “The offered sum is within expectations of CSA laid out in the company’s restructuring plan,” CSA Czech Airlines’ spokesman Daniel Sabik told the Wall Street Journal Thursday, referring to the required maximum financing needs that in September were estimated at about $20 million.