Pilsen Steel files insolvency petition, lay-offs expected to follow

Plzeň’s main steelworks company has filed an insolvency petition and accrued 5 billion crowns in debt, the daily E15 reports. Pilsen Steel saw its funding from a Russian bank cut off last year.

The steelworks’ largest creditors are both majority controlled by Russian entities – VEB Kapital and Vemex – while ČEZ Prodej, part of the Czech state-controlled utility, is also a major creditor.

Pilsen Steel trade unions say they expect a significant number of the more than 1,000 employees to be laid off and fear salaries may go unpaid.

Author: Brian Kenety