| The government did not tell Vladimir Potanin whether it approved the deal with Siemens Yesterday, the Russian government for the first time tried to outline its position regarding the sale of 71% of the shares of the Power Machines concern, Russia's largest manufacturer of all types of power equipment, to the German corporation Siemens. Before this, only its participants officially spoke about a possible deal, who fully approve of it and consider it mutually beneficial. As is known, after the proposal from Siemens, Interros decided to postpone the deal to merge Power Machines with OMZ.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said at a government meeting that the government will deal with the deal, but there is a “separate point that requires elaboration”: “I mean that there are also interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the issue of selling Siemens a stake needs to be further considered so as not to lose our position in the markets and the Russian part of the cooperation." And he added that the parties “need to find some kind of compromise.” In addition, the Kremlin is believed to have a negative attitude towards Siemens' initiative. However, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin regarded the planned deal “as a positive investment that the state needs to support, which will seriously increase the export of high-tech products.” Thus, there was no clear answer, which indicates only one thing: the state will continue to “work through” its position for a long time.
The interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense, as Mr. Fradkov spoke about, lie in the fact that the Elektrosila companies and the Kaluga Turbine Plant (in which Siemens already owns a 20.8% stake) that are part of Power Machines produce generators and steam turbine units for nuclear power plants. submarines.
However, market participants believe that Interros can offer the government and Siemens several options for solving this problem. For example, to separate out from Power Machines production related to the defense industry. However, some experts believe that technically it will be almost impossible to do this, since the production of generators for submarines and power plants takes place in the same workshops using the same technologies, equipment and engineering. However, this obstacle can theoretically be circumvented, for example, a state unitary enterprise can be created on the basis of production facilities related to the defense industry.
However, it is possible that the state may not agree to give Siemens the entire stake in Power Machines owned by Vladimir Potanin.
Siemens told Vremya Novostei yesterday that it was “delighted” with the government leadership’s statements and that it was ready to refuse defense-related orders.
And Alexander Branis, director of the Prosperity Capital Management fund, who represents the interests of more than 10% of Power Machines shareholders, considered Mr. Fradkov’s statements about a compromise as evidence that the Cabinet of Ministers is ready to discuss options for the deal. According to him, “Power Machines” is already a privatized company, and it is important for the state that it has an effective owner.” The fact that Siemens is going to pay the amount required by Interros, the expert believes (and experts estimate Interros' package at $200-250 million), confirms the seriousness of the company's intentions. Yana VIKTOROVA |
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