The economic court in Luhansk region has declared public joint-stock company Luhansk Pipe Plant bankrupt and started liquidation procedures.

According to the materials of the case on bankruptcy of Luhansk Pipe Plant being heard by the economic court in Luhansk region, copies of which have been sent to Interfax-Ukraine, the ruling on declaring the company bankrupt was issued on July 29, 2013.

According to the document, the term of the liquidation procedure is one year, until July 29, 2014.

Arbitration manager Oleksandr Bondarchuk has been appointed liquidator.

The head of the Luhansk Pipe Plant is to hand over accounting documents, stamps, material and other assets of the enterprise within 15 days.

The court also lifted the arrest on property of the plant.

The claims of creditors can be submitted within two months of the day of the official publication of the announcement.

The next hearing of the court in the case is scheduled for November 25, 2013.

As reported, initially the claim against Luhansk Pipe Plant on declaring it bankrupt was sent by Apriori Law Consulting Company LLC (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), demanding the return of UAH 1 million, on the basis of which the court on January 17, 2013 opened a case on bankruptcy and introduced a property management procedure for the debtor for the period until August 15, 2013. Arbitration manager Bondarchuk was appointed property manager.

Later, the creditors of Luhansk Pipe Plant, particularly, Zaporizhstal, EvrazTrans Ukraine, the department of the Pension Fund, the tax inspectorate, Naftogaz Ukrainy and others, appealed to the court. At a hearing on May 20, 2013, the claims of the creditors were discussed and some of them were put on the list of creditors. The claim of Zaporizhstal was put aside pending confirmation of the debt.

At a hearing on June 3, 2013, the claims of the works were declared valid and the court obliged Bondarchuk to include Zaporizhstal on the list of creditors.

In total the court recognized claims from creditors worth over UAH 400 million.

Luhansk Pipe Plant has not been producing goods since October 2012.

It was also reported that the whole property complex of the plant was transferred to its main creditor – Aktabank. Luhansk Pipe Rolling Plant, which was created on the basis of the property complex of public joint-stock company Luhansk Pipe Plant, and which started its operations from August 1, 2013. The owner of the new enterprise is ALEF Corporation (Dnipropetrovsk).

Luhansk Pipe Plant in 2011 increased its net revenues by 5.3% year-over-year, to UAH 1.195 billion, and its sales revenues rose by 4.7%, to UAH 1.389 billion. The company saw a net loss of UAH 38.296 million in 2011, while in 2010 its net loss stood at UAH 25.481 million.

The plant used raw materials on a tolling basis, and Zaporizhstal supplied steel strips for the whole production cycle.

As of late 2011, Zaporizhstal held a 47.9537% stake in Luhansk Pipe Plant, Dneprpromkomplekt held 24.1124% and DPK-Invest LLC (both based in Dnipropetrovsk) 24.0933%.

The share capital of Luhansk Pipe Plant is UAH 39.178 million, and the face value of each of its shares is UAH 20.