MECHEL OAO ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF LAMINORUL BRAILA METALLURGICAL PLANT IN
ROMANIA

Moscow, Russia – April 22, 2010. – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces acquisition of Laminorul Braila
metallurgical plant located in Romania.
On  February 25, 2010 Mechel acquired 100% of the shares of Donau Commodities
SRL, which  holds  87.9% of the shares of Laminorul SA (Laminorul Braila), a
steel plant located  in Braila, Romania, for a consideration of  9.4 million
Euros subject to a final price adjustment. The final price adjustment is
expected to be agreed by the  end  of  April,  2010.
On April 19, 2010, the Romanian Competition Council approved the transaction.
Laminorul Braila plant is located in the southeast Romania on the left side of
Danube River in close proximity to Braila ports. The ports’ facilities allow for
embarkation onto ships with cargo capacity of up to 5 thousand tonnes.
Constantsa international port (Black Sea) is also located nearby, thus providing
convenient logistics for the plant.
The plant’s main production facilities include two rolling mills with total
capacity of over than 380 thousand tonnes per year. Rolling mills manufacture
structural shapes of different types: beams, channel bars, equal and unequal
angles for industrial, civil and machinery construction. This is the only plant
in Romania manufacturing special profile (bulb bar) which is used in
shipbuilding. All types of products have European quality certificates. Bulb
bars manufactured by the plant are certified by the international sea registers
such as DNV, BV, LR, ABS, GL and the Russian Sea Register.
In 2009 the plant manufactured more than 50 thousand tonnes of structural
shapes. 65% of the plant’s products are delivered to Western and Eastern Europe
and the rest is consumed at the domestic market of Romania. Laminorul Braila is
sourced with billets supplied by Mechel Targoviste steel plant, a one more
Romanian subsidiary of Mechel. The plant employs more than 570 people.
Victor Dyshlevich, CEO of East-European Steel Division, commented on the event:
“The acquisition of Laminorul Braila is a one more step in implementation of
Mechel’s steel business development strategy, particularly aimed at increasing
the share of high margin products in the group’s product portfolio. The plant
allows producing downstream products from Mechel’s billets and increase
synergies of all Romanian assets of the group. The products manufactured at
Laminorul Braila are a good supplement to the product portfolio of Mechel’s
steel plants in Romania. The new products – structural shapes and bulb bars –
will undoubtedly expand our positions on the market of Romania and other
countries of the European Union and also would allow diversifying distribution
of our products. The company plans to increase production volume for the
future”.
Mechel’s East-European Steel Division consists of the following steel plants:
Mechel Targoviste, Mechel Campia Turzii, Ductil Steel Buzau, Otelu Rosu and
Mechel Targoviste.
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Mechel OAO
Ekaterina Videman
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
ekaterina.videman@mechel.com
***
Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, hardware, heat and
electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
***
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.