Suppliers claim bankruptcy of Vester affiliates

2010-03-15



Suppliers of the Kaliningrad-based retailer Vester have called for its affiliates in the regions to be declared bankrupt. Since the end of 2009 arbitration courts in Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Izhevsk and other cities have received insolvency claims against the Vester divisions – Vester-Ural, Vester-Izhevsk, Vester-Trade and Vester-Chernozemye.
Vester has delayed payments to its suppliers since the onset of the economic crisis, and by summer 2009, it had stopped servicing its bank loans, including a RUB 1.8bn ($60.5m) debt to Sberbank and a RUB 1bn ($33.6m) debt to Promsvyazbank. The company promises to have settled its debts with suppliers and its main creditor Sberbank by July this year.