AFK Sistema does not insist on controlling stake in JV with Rostec, bringing in third partner - Yevtushenkov
DAVOS. January 20 (Interfax) - A joint venture between AFK Sistema and Rostec in the sphere of microelectronics and instrument making could receive a third partner, AFK Sistema head Vladimir Yevtushenkov told Interfax in an interview.
"Most likely none of the sides will have a control stake because there will probably be a third investor. There will not be control in the classical way the term is used in Russia, in other words 50% plus one share," he said.
Yevtushenkov said that it is more important to determine who will assume responsibility for managing the future asset, for its profitability and effectiveness. "Yes we would like for that role to come for us. But I'll say it again, we are at the start of the process and the question of who controls it is not the main issue," he said.
He said that the third partner will likely be a private investor instead of a state investor. The partner can join the joint venture using funds or using assets, "a final decision has not yet been made."
Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov earlier told journalists that Rostec would bring a portion of its assets into the joint venture taken from Ruselectronics, overall more than 100. AFK Sistema will bring in the concerns RTI and Micron.
"When forming the company many processing chains were broken. Part of the technology is with us, part of it is with Rostec. Joining the assets allows us to create a single integrated technology from developing to selling the product and this means lowering the cost of sales, lowering expenses and increasing efficiency. When processing chains were broken they did not think this over, and when they started to more thoroughly study the issue, they began to understand that duplicate technologies were arising and competition was not necessary," Yevtushenkov said, explaining the logic behind the deal.
Chemezov said that if AFK Sistema wants to have control of the JV and its assets are valued at less than Rostec's, the corporation will have to bring in funds. "We are absolutely not against that if they want to do this," he said.