Siemens, Sinara fold sales venture into Ural Locomotives - paper
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - Siemens and Sinara have simplified the ownership structure of their joint venture in Russia, business daily Vedomsoti reported on Wednesday, citing a spokesman for the German company.
Siemens increased its stake in the joint venture with Sinara, Ural Locomotives, to 50% in 2012. The second joint venture, which was controlled by Siemens and handled sales of Ural Locomotives trains, has ceased to exist, the paper said.
Sinara and Siemens set up their joint venture in 2010 based on the Russian group's Ural Railway Engineering Plant. The partners own the venture through Ural Locomotives Holding B.V., in which Sinara had a controlled interest of 51%. So that Siemens could report revenues from the sale of electric trains to Russian Railways (RZD) , the companies set up another joint venture, LLC Siemens Train Technologies, that was controlled by the German company.
"But in the process of working, in the course of consultations, both with customers and our partner, it was decided that it's more effective to work directly with the customer. Such interaction makes it possible to respond more quickly to all requirements and wishes," the paper quoted the Siemens spokesman as saying. He said the decision to change the stakes in the venture was linked to setting up local production of the Latochka (Desiro Rus) electric trains.
It is not clear whether Sinara was unhappy with the ownership structure. Company officials were not available for comment, the paper said.
Ural Locomotives signed a 2.1 billion euro contract in September 2011 with RZD Trading House, a joint venture between RZD and pension fund Blagosostoyanie, to deliver 1,200 Lastochka railcars (56 trains) in 2015-2020.
The shareholders of RZD Trading House will consider new conditions of the Lastochka contract at an extraordinary general meeting on December 5. The changes will not apply to the price or volume of the contract, the parties in the contract will be changed, company materials show. Only Ural Locomotives will remain a party to the contract, the paper cited the spokesman as saying.