Sinara seeking increase in Russian Railways capex or subsidies - paper
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - Sinara Group, a producer of locomotives controlled by Dmitry Pumpyansky, sent a letter to the industry, transport and economic development ministries in December asking "to increase the amount of Russian Railways' (RZD) investment program or provide subsidies from the budget to offset part of the cost of financial leasing," national daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing a copy of the documents.
The letters state that the company has lost orders worth 6 billion rubles (about 50 locomotives), which could result in more than 1,000 employees, or a fifth of employees in Sinara's locomotive business, losing their jobs and the suspension of investment programs for plants, the paper said.
Sverdlovsk Region Governor Yevgeny Kuivashev also sent a request for support to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last week, the paper reported.
Gazprombank recently notified Sinara that the interest rate on a credit line for more than 5 billion rubles would be raised to 25% from 14%, the paper said, citing a source on the railway market. Meanwhile, RZD has reduced purchases of locomotives in 2015 by 36%, the source said.
The Transport Ministry and Economic Development Ministry did not respond to questions, the paper said. The Industry and Trade Ministry said that they "support any possibilities for increasing the amount of equipment purchases within the context of RZD's investment program."
RZD plans to buy 467 locomotives in 2015, a third fewer than in 2014. The main supplier besides Sinara is Transmashholding (TMH) . However, TMH said that RZD does not intend to reduce purchases from them and that "TMH has a firm three-year contract to 2017," the paper reported.
RZD said that "if they do reduce purchases, then proportionately from all suppliers," the paper said. Sinara declined to comment.