| The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank Group, announced yesterday that it will finance the completion and expansion of the Ford Vsevolozhsk automobile plant in the Leningrad region. The plant is scheduled to be launched in four months. The total amount of financing is $110 million.
IFC will provide Ford Vsevolozhsk with a loan of $55 million guaranteed by Ford Motors (it owns 99% of the shares of the plant under construction). 1% of the shares of Ford Vsevolozhsk belong to the Banking House of St. Petersburg, whose member, St. Petersburg Promstroybank, has been a financial partner of the “automobile” project since March 2000.
According to available information, IFC will attract another $55 million to the project in the form of a syndicated bank loan. In banking circles in St. Petersburg, it is not ruled out that Promstroibank may also be invited to participate in the syndicate. The bank has not yet commented on the possibility of its participation in the syndicate.
In Vsevolozhsk, body production, final assembly and painting of cars based on the Ford Focus platform will initially be carried out. The enterprise is being created at the facilities of the bankrupt defense enterprise "Russian Diesel".
Ford Motors has already invested about $150 million in the project. But IFC's borrowed funds will allow not only to complete the construction of the enterprise, but also to expand it over time. The fact is that this year only the first stage of the plant with a capacity of 25 thousand cars per year will be put into operation. The design capacity of the entire enterprise is 100 thousand.
The first cars - from 100 to 300 units - will roll off the plant's assembly line in October. But they will not go to a car dealership, but to a testing ground for three months of testing. As Vice-Governor of the Leningrad Region Grigory Dvas explained to the Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent, this is provided for by Russian standards for all vehicles produced for the first time in our country. The Vsevolozhsk plant will produce the first production cars only in January 2002. Victor MATVEEV, St. Petersburg
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