Spain’s Maxam repaid an $11 million debt via its Russian explosives plant

Spain-based Maxam, one of the world’s largest explosives manufacturers, has settled a major debt involving its Russian subsidiary: YUII-Sibir LLC, which supplied explosives to MCC EuroChem JSC. Through a series of transactions that replaced direct settlements between the Russian entities, Spain-based MaxamCorp was able to repay the $11 million it owed to Switzerland-based EuroChem Trading GmbH. Previously, MaxamCorp denied that it continued operations in Russia.

How a debt assignment helped Maxam

In May 2025, The Insider reported on the continued operation of Maxam’s Russian plants, as well as preparations for a debt reassignment transaction. A ruling by a Russian court (the Eleventh Commercial Court of Appeal in Samara) dated Dec. 23, 2025, provides concrete evidence that the company went through with the planned financial operation.

The court proceedings were initiated by Maxam’s former subsidiary, High-Tech Initiation Systems JSC (VSI), which came under the control of a former partner. VSI sought to recover from Maxam subsidiary YUII-Sibir LLC a previously issued loan of 170.3 million rubles ($2.17 million), as well as interest for the use of the funds. MCC EuroChem JSC was joined as a third party, along with two other Maxam entities: the management company Maxam Rus and the group’s parent company, MaxamCorp International S.L.

Translation: According to the report, as of the valuation date, accounts receivable increased by 835 million rubles compared with Dec. 31, 2022, reaching 1,264 million rubles, due to the acquisition of MaxamCorp International S.L.’s debt to the EuroChem Group. The response states that YUII-Sibir LLC acquired MaxamCorp International S.L.’s debt to the EuroChem Group under an assignment agreement and subsequently settled this debt through the EuroChem Group’s Russian subsidiary, MCC EuroChem JSC. As a result of this transaction, YUII-Sibir LLC acquired a claim against MaxamCorp International S.L. in the amount of 863 million rubles, recorded as accounts receivable. Page 12 of the report, in the section “Assumptions on Which the Valuation Is Based and Valuation Limitations,” states that, according to the client, the structure of the purchase and sale transaction for Valuation Object No. 1 provides for the restructuring of MaxamCorp International S.L.’s debt to YUII-Sibir LLC that remained outstanding as of the valuation date and amounted to 956,761 thousand rubles. MaxamCorp International S.L.’s obligations will be assigned to the buyer. Repayment of MaxamCorp International S.L.’s debt as part of the transaction is not envisaged.

The court ruling indicates that Spain-based MaxamCorp International, S.L. had a debt to the Swiss EuroChem Group (the parent company of EuroChem Trading GmbH). On Mar. 27, 2023, MCC EuroChem JSC agreed to assign the debt claim, and a month later, on Apr. 24, 2023, this claim was acquired by YUII-Sibir LLC. As a result of this chain of assignments, the Spanish corporation settled its debt to the European company while remaining indebted to its Russian subsidiary for 863 million rubles ($11 million). Notably, the subsidiary did not plan to recover the debt and was preparing to write it off.

Representatives of the Russian subsidiary, YUII-Sibir LLC, confirmed in court that the Spanish corporation was the beneficiary of the described scheme. Quoting the court ruling: “The defendant does not dispute that MaxamCorp International, S.L., as a result of the chain of transactions, obtained an economic benefit in the form of the settlement of its debt (termination of obligations) to a third party from an unfriendly jurisdiction using the funds of the Russian company. According to the valuation report of the charter capital shares of YUII-Sibir LLC, IMS LLC, VSI JSC, and Maxam Rus LLC as of Dec. 31, 2023, the return of funds from MaxamCorp to YUII-Sibir was not envisaged.”

Links between the Spanish corporation and explosives production in Russia

The Spanish company Maxam is one of the world’s largest explosives manufacturers. It operated in Russia through the management company Maxam Rus LLC, which oversaw three explosives production plants: High-Tech Initiation Systems JSC (VSI) in Samara Region, Eastern Mining Services LLC (IMS) in Murmansk Region, and YUII-Sibir LLC in Krasnoyarsk Krai. The ultimate owner of these companies was Spain-based MaxamCorp International, S.L. All three plants continued operations after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the combined revenue of Maxam’s Russian subsidiaries over the three years of the war exceeded 11.46 billion rubles (almost $146 million).

In 2024, following a corporate conflict, Maxam’s Samara plant, High-Tech Initiation Systems JSC (VSI), came under the management of Promsintez JSC, which in 2024 appointed a new CEO. The Spanish company, however, remains the formal owner of the enterprise. The other two plants (in Murmansk Region and Krasnoyarsk Krai), as well as the management company, remained under Maxam’s ownership and control.

Maxam’s Russian plants not only manufacture and sell explosives for Russia’s mining industry but also train personnel from Russian enterprises. The corporate newspaper of Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant notes that throughout 2024, employees of the mining company underwent training at IMS LLC. Mikhailovsky is one of the largest iron ore mining and beneficiation enterprises in the CIS and has been under U.S. sanctions since April 2023.

A number of facts indicate that the Spanish corporation maintains ties with these Russian plants. In 2023, YUII-Sibir paid 40 million rubles ($509,500) in dividends to its sole owner, MaxamCorp International, S.A. In April of that year, Maxam Rus filed a patent application for an industrial mixer used in the production of explosive compositions. The listed inventors of the device are two MaxamCorp managers, Raquel Vivanco González and Fernando Beitia Gómez Segura. Certificates for explosives produced by Maxam’s Russian plants list contact email addresses with the company’s corporate domain name.

In June 2025, Spain-based anti-war activists from La Asociación de Rusos Libres (“Association of Free Russians”) appealed to the Spanish prosecutor’s office to investigate Maxam’s operations. However, three months later, the National Judicial College of Spain closed its pre-trial investigation after concluding that the corporation had lost control over its subsidiaries in Russia. The basis on which this conclusion was made was not provided.