TIRANA, April 20 – A Tirana District Court has ruled to suspend the execution of collateral against Kurum steelmaker and allow the company to renegotiate loans with its creditors to save it from bankruptcy. The court has also appointed a bankruptcy supervisor to assist in the company’s reorganization.
Creditors are expected to allow the company restructure its loans by avoiding default.
Last March, Turkey’s Kurum, filed for bankruptcy in a surprise move which could have severe consequences for the country’s economy and employment.
The huge debts the steelmaker has accumulated and a sharp decline in international base metal prices, in addition to ongoing pollution problems with Albanian authorities, seem to have led the company which employs hundreds of people to initiate bankruptcy proceedings.
Kurum International has been operating in Albania for the past 18 years mainly in steel production in Elbasan, but recently expanded its activity in Durres Port through a container terminal concession and purchased for small and medium-sized hydropower plants.
Kurum has borrowed €106 million from the World Bank and €20 million from the Black Sea Development Bank in the past five years and several other millions of euros from local banks in Albania.
Kurum is the largest employer in the city of Elbasan, central Albania, which suffers high unemployment rates and high pollution levels because of the plant’s operation.
