Lukashenko doubts MAZ, Kamaz merger 'worthwhile'
MINSK. April 19 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko doubts that a merger between Belarusian and Russian truck makers MAZ and Kamaz would be worthwhile.
"People come to me, I ask them: what would we get from this merger, corporatization, and on top of that transferring these shares for a song? We have a market, we have production. MAZ's product is no worse than Kamaz's," Lukashenko said on Friday during the traditional address to parliament and the nation.
"People are starting to tell me that foreigners are behind them [Kamaz]. They are shareholders there and they would be interested in letting MAZ fall down, in closing it. They don't want extra rivals," Lukashenko said. "I am the president of Belarus and I will not fall for this, and there's no other word for it, this act of banditry," he said.
"Let's create a management company, let's work three or five years and see what we get from this," he said.
Georgy Kuznetsov, chairman of the Belarusian State Property Committee, said in February that the countries had reached fundamental agreement on the terms for amalgamating the MAZ and Kamaz truck plants and would form the RusBelAuto automobile holding. He said Belarus would contribute 75% of the shares in MAZ to the holding and would own 50% of the joint venture.
The management system for the holding will be determined by April 15, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said.
The management company will be running both production associations. The main issue that remains unresolved is which side will hold the controlling stake.
"We are talking about 50/50. As to the option of obtaining one share to controlling [stake], this is what the entire question boils down to. What the terms of a possible option might be for the issue of this share should be determined by April 15," he said.