July 31, 2013, 00:00

The state stake in UAZ will be discounted

The Federal Property Management Agency decided to sell the state stake in UAZ at a “Dutch auction”. There is still only one contender - controlling shareholder Vladimir Shtanov

The state-owned stake in the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ; 14.67% of ordinary shares, or 13.2% of the authorized capital), which has so far failed to be sold at a regular auction, is being put up for auction through a public offer, according to materials from the Federal Property Management Agency. This is the so-called “Dutch auction,” which involves both a price decrease and an increase, recalls a representative of the organizer, the Russian Auction House (RAD). The auction is scheduled for September 13, 2013.

The last time the state-owned stake in UAZ was supposed to be sold was on August 8, but due to the lack of applications, the auction was declared invalid. Now the Federal Property Management Agency has decided to take a new approach, explains a representative of the RAD.

The offer price for the state-owned stake in UAZ remains the same - just over 1 billion rubles. This is comparable to the net profit received by the company in 2012 according to RAS: 985.6 million rubles. (2 times growth) with revenue of 27.9 billion rubles. (+5.7%). The capitalization of UAZ on the Moscow Exchange yesterday at 19.00 Moscow time was 7.5 billion rubles. According to the law, during an auction through a public offer, the starting price can be reduced by a maximum of 50%, but a price increase cannot be ruled out, notes a RAD representative. The step up will be 10.1 million rubles, the step down - 20.2 million rubles.

This time the auction may take place, says Ivan Bonchev, investment director at SI Capital Partners. The main contender for the state stake is Sollers, which controls the company (owns 68% of ordinary shares, or 66.2% of the authorized capital), he and Auto-dealer.ru director Oleg Datskiv are sure. UAZ does not pay dividends; the stake itself is small and is unlikely to interest an outside investor, explains Bonchev. UAZ SUVs and LCVs, although they remain popular due to their low prices, require a radical update, and this requires significant investment, Datskiv adds.

Proposals for participation in the new auction have been sent to Sollers and many other companies, but there have been no applications yet - they usually arrive closer to the auction date, says a RAD representative. A Sollers representative declined to comment.